The Pursuit Of Health Is More Essential Than Profiting From Tobacco. - Zulu. By Thandiwe Moyo.

Richard Zulu, a researcher on tobacco control, has a different take on the alleged economic ad-vantages of cigarettes. Mr. Zulu contends that having good health is significantly more im-portant than having any amount of money. Ac-cording to Mr. Zulu, life is more valuable than wealth or money. THE debate on the importance of public health against economic gains from agro products such as tobacco has continued at-tracting divided views. The government through the Ministry of Health and players in the tobacco sector are trying to strike a balance of having a healthy and productive nation through a well-regulated tobacco sector.

The smooth running of affairs in the tobacco space is on the other hand aimed at reducing ef-fects of the non-communicable diseases said to be responsible for an estimated annual seven million deaths globally and 400, 000 deaths in Zambia, according to the World Health Organi-zation (WHO). To ensure that these alarming death rates are reduced, a piece of legislation in place will help reduce the harmful side of tobacco on people’s health. While on the other hand, the tobacco industry players are peddling the economic benefits emanating from the crop such as job creation among others.

The Government and the tobacco Control stakeholders have been for some time now discuss-ing the formulation of the Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhalants Control Bill which is seen as an obligation to protect the public from the devastating health, social, economic and envi-ronmental consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.

If this law comes into effect, it will be in line with the country’s commitment to attain aspira-tions of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC).

The WHO-FCTC treaty was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidem-ic which is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalization and direct foreign investment.

Other factors such as global marketing, transnational tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes have also contributed to the explosive increase in tobacco use.

The WHO-FCTC represents a paradigm shift in developing a regulatory strategy to address addictive substances; in contrast to previous drug control treaties, the WHO-FCTC asserts the importance of demand reduction strategies on tobacco as well as supply issues.

Once enacted, the bill would also be an Act to provide guidelines of tobacco products, tobacco devices, and nicotine inhalant products and the tobacco industry, including the manufacturing, import and sale.

The Act would further look at tobacco packaging, labeling, advertis-ing, promotion, and sponsorship of the products and devices, their use in public and workplaces, and to provide matters connected with or incidental. A number of gatherings have been convened jointly by the Ministry of Health and the Centre for Primary Care Research- Univer-sity of Zambia (UNZA) School of Medicine to disseminate a number of findings in relation to tobacco control.

Prof. Fastone Goma

Centre for Primary Care Research director Fastone Goma says most tobacco farmers struggled to make ends meet while tobacco companies were seemingly getting richer. Professor Goma says apart from the many health implications that tobacco had including causing 40 dif-ferent types of cancers, the struggles of tobacco farmers around the country were in contrast with the information that tobacco was a beneficial cash crop.

“The tobacco industry’s narrative suggests that growing tobacco leaf provides a good living for thousands of Zambian farmers. The results of a major survey of a nationally-representative sam-ple of small-scale tobacco farmers and follow-up focus groups unequivocally demonstrate the opposite scenario,” he said.

According to some findings, Zambia is said to have more than 56,000 children hooked to smok-ing with a growing number being addicted to shisha, a modern piped tobacco, and 105, 200 adults continue to use tobacco each day.

The spread of different sorts of tobacco has covered a number of segments of communities some embracing the habits without really appreciating the effects on their health.