Uganda recently joined other 180 countries around the world in India for the Conference of Parties of the World Health Organisation-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
During the seventh session, several significant decisions were adopted including parties’ enthusiasm to control tobacco and its effects on public health. The decisions were set against the reality that without strong tobacco control measures, tobacco will kill about one billion people in the 21st century. By 2030, over 80 per cent of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in low- and middle-income countries.
Secondly, the parties were concerned about tobacco industry interference, as expressed at the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7), by the industry’s persistent attempts to infiltrate and manipulate the workings of the convention.
The head of the convention secretariat, Dr Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, said: “Despite all the hard work by the parties, it is sad to see tobacco interest, yet again, being promoted in the room. It is determined to undermine and distract us from our goal – to fight against the tobacco epidemic that not only damages health and kills people, but also impoverishes those living in low- to middle-income countries.”
In Uganda, tobacco was introduced in the 1920s by the British American Tobacco. Researchers first established the first negative effects of using tobacco in the 1930s. By the 1950s, the link between tobacco and lung cancer was confirmed.
Considering this discovery, medical evidence continues to prove that tobacco use posess serious risk for potential fatal heart and lung diseases, stroke, impotence, etc. Today, tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It kills more people annually than HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
The world set aside May 31, as the World No Tobacco day in efforts to encourage a tobacco-free world. It is now an annual event. This was followed up by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) established in 2003 with a specific purpose of ensuring that member countries (signatories) move to put in place and enforce tobacco control measures through stemming tobacco consumption, regulating tobacco marketing, labelling, sponsorships, etc.
Uganda consented to the FCTC on March 5, 2004 but by February 2006, the country was yet to ratify it, which raised questions about the government’s commitment. On June 20, 2007, Uganda became signatory to the FCTC which obliges it to have a comprehensive tobacco control law to, among others, regulate tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship under Article 13.
It should be noted that world over, tobacco is the only legally-allowed consumer product which kills people when it is used entirely as intended according to the World Health Organisation.
Uganda passed a law to control tobacco use in 2015 which came into force on May 18, 2016. The objectives of the law, inter alia, are to control the demand for the consumption of tobacco and its products, to protect the present and future generations from the devastating health, social, economic and environmental consequences of tobacco use, and to fulfil Uganda’s obligation and commitment as a party to the FCTC.
Under the law, no government officer or body should interact with tobacco industry unless it is for effective regulation of the industry or tobacco product. And no such person or body or entity that is involved in public health policies formulation, implementation, administration, and enforcement or monitoring should give incentive, benefits, privileges or prefential tax exemptions to the tobacco industry.
COP7
For any person to qualify as a delegate for COP7 this year, they had to go through the process of accreditation. This was and, indeed must be, conducted by the ministry of health. The theme of this year was Transparency, Yes. Interference, No.
There was a time when public health discussions on tobacco were an extraordinarily-open process. Government officials met a wide range of people and listened to their concerns and ideas as they formulated policy. All that changed after it was discovered that the industry worked behind the scenes, successfully lobbying policymakers to discontinue or water down tobacco control measures.
For instance, a British American Tobacco’s (BAT) chairman noted in an internal memo in 1990: “We should not be depressed simply because the total free world market appears to be declining… There are areas of strong growth, particularly in Asia and Africa… it is an exciting prospect.”
The secretariat went ahead to warn countries that, the tobacco industry is targeting parties’ delegations attending the world’s largest intergovernmental meeting solely dedicated to tobacco control.
This was the spirit behind the accreditation in Uganda. Sadly, Uganda experienced international diplomatic shame as some senior citizens who were never accredited were rejected at the entrance of the COP.
So, one wonders, where were these people in all the process of nomination and accreditation? Why would ministry of finance nominate individuals without working with the ministry of health? Who is this government officer who doesn’t know the fact of the existing law and the interference of the tobacco industry.
Ugandan government is applauded world over for the good law on tobacco control which must not be ever vitiated. The government needs to desist from killing its own baby through failure to cooperate. The lead ministry must be given veto powers to determine on the fundamental issues if the law will be implemented.
We all have public health challenges for the present and future generations due to the uncontrolled tobacco use; let us embrace the decisions of COP7, as it sent out an unequivocal message to the tobacco peddlers. The world understands who you are and what you do, and is determined to stamp out the global plague which you do so much to spread.
The author is the programmes coordinator at Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD).
