Accounting for more than 10% of all tobacco products sold Africa is on the brink of what experts are referring to as a “Global Smoking Epidemic.” A recent report released by the American Cancer Society & the Global Smokefree Partnership claims that more than half of all African countries will double their tobacco use within 12 years if something is not done to curb the current usage trends.

What is being done to try and prevent an inevitable onslaught of new lung cancer victims? Currently countries like Niger & Kenya have been leading the way in this effort with bans on smoking in public places, however some critics are demanding that countries take further action similar to recent laws passed in Mauritius which have been described by the American Cancer Society as some of the most robust anti-smoking measures in the world. Why haven’t more countries taken action to try and prevent such an epidemic from occurring? The result might surprise you but most countries aren’t eagerly jumping on the bandwagon because they fear any harsh anti-smoking laws will be met with fierce opposition by the general population. That doesn’t mean that countries with a primarily pro-smoking majority aren’t trying though. In Egypt for instance, women have the right to divorce their husbands if their smoking affects their health according to a local fatwa (Islamic ruling), however there is no ban on smoking in public places yet. It’s been speculated that more than half of the population of Egypt regularly use cigarettes, water-pipes and other tobacco-related products making such a widespread law difficult to find support for.

Dr. Twalib Ngoma, president of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), says advertising which targets African youth is partially to blame. “Tobacco companies are targeting poor, developing countries in Africa. If you drive from the airports to most towns you will see a lot of billboards promoting tobacco, saying that if you smoke you are going to be successful.” Like adding kerosene on an already-lit fire The American Cancer Society claims that the African tobacco industry has been busy trying to influence governmental agencies to support pro-tobacco initiatives. They go on to claim that the companies try to convince African governments that tobacco is important to economic activity and that raising taxes on cigarettes and implementing smoke-free laws will result in revenue and job-losses. An example of this can be seen currently in Kenya, where the local tobacco industry has filed a legal dispute to a recent anti-smoking law passed by the parliament. In Zambia there are corporation rumors surrounding a possible connection between the British American Tobacco group and what is being described as a “diluted proposal” for a smoke-free law. When contacted about these allegations British American Tobacco denied any ill-intent stating that they were only briefly consulted on the draft bill last year, pointing out that it has yet to be finalized.

Adam Spielman, a tobacco industry analyst with Citigroup, thinks that the African market forms around 10% or so of the profits for the biggest companies, but also adds that this area is growing.
He goes on to say that the tobacco companies aren’t too concerned with increasing the volume of cigarettes sold as much as the importance of being able to increase the price of tobacco products sold. “If a consumer is addicted to tobacco, then it is possible to put prices up and they will go without lunch.” But as with most global problems, Mr. Spielman speculates that increasing advertising restrictions and bigger health warnings will eventually come into place in African countries.