Tobacco now sold in areas frequented by children; Govt urged to tighten checks

It’s a common site finding tobacco products beings sold alongside other ordinary products in shops and kiosks around the country.

This, despite the stringent Anti-tobacco act which restricts the stocking of tobacco products on open shelves as well as the sale of cigarettes in single sticks.

The local tobacco industry is accused of increasing their footprint through such strategies of increased accessibility and affordability of tobacco products, in contrast to the law.

“These multinationals are so powerful that they influence a lot of policies in Africa and other parts of the world with regards to tobacco control. So if you don’t monitor them and denounce them and if press don’t expose their activities it becomes very difficult for tobacco control initiatives,” The Executive Director at African Tobacco Control Alliance Deowan Mohee said.

Increasing accessibility, affordability and palatability of tobacco products are among the different initiatives said to be employed by the tobacco industry to lure more unsuspecting customers to their products.

Civil society Organizations in the struggle to control tobacco consumption say such strategies are mainly targeting areas with children and youths of school going age who later become addicts to the deadly products.

Leone Sessou the communication manager at ATCA says; “Here in Uganda 25percent of areas surveyed have sell of flavored cigarettes around schools. This is because the tobacco companies want to increase attractiveness of the tobacco products and also increase initiation among youths and children.”

Musicians are also being accused of promoting engineered tobacco products such as Sisha in their music.

Talibita Moses the Legal Compliance Uganda National Health Consumers' Organization said they would  draw the attention of Uganda Communications Commission to deal with musicians.

There is a call for an increased check on the efforts of the tobacco industry and sensitization of unsuspecting members of the public. The organizations note that tobacco products are highly engineered and smokers are only victims who should be helped.

Considering the increasing marketing and sell tactics used by the tobacco industry, it is projected that while globally the prevalence of tobacco consumption is expected to go down from 34 percent by 2025, the story is different in the Mediterranean and African countries.