Every year, on 31 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).
According to the WHO, tobacco kills more than eight million people globally every year.
More than seven million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
The annual campaign gives an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use, second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.
As part of efforts to commemorate this year’s celebration, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), in collaboration with the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) held a virtual seminar on Wednesday, June 3 with stakeholders.
This year’s celebration, which was aimed at young people, was themed, “Protecting the youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use”.
“This year, WNTD sets the pace for a global campaign that aims to debunk myths and expose devious tactics employed by these industries. Also, it will equip young people with the requisite knowledge to easily detect industry manipulation and equip them further with the tools to rebuff such tactics,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Delese Mimi Darko in her address.
The use of shisha has been on the rise in recent times. It has become a better alternative for youth because of the idea that it is safer than cigarettes and the flavours with which they come with.
It is for this reason that the FDA has launched an intense campaign against this, as it has the same effects of smoking cigarettes.
Mimi Darko said, “Prevalence in shisha use is higher in girls than boys as said by the Ghana Youth Tobacco Survey 2017 probably due to the misconception that shisha is a safer alternative to cigarettes. To dispel this notion, an aggressive anti-shisha campaign has been initiated by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS).”
Highlighting the efforts the country is putting in the fight against the use of tobacco, she indicated that, “Despite the presenting statistics, Ghana has made significant strides in tobacco control in line with the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act No. 851 of 2012) and the Tobacco Control Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2247) such as the continual enforcement of tobacco control measures and the implementation of pictorial health warnings. However, with a goal to totally eliminate the threat of tobacco use, Ghana continues to join member states and the WHO to advance in the fight against tobacco use.”
On her part, the Head of Tobacco and Substances of Abuse Department, Dr. Olivia Boateng indicated that going forward, the FDA would do anything possible to lower the use of tobacco in Ghana.
According to her, this includes reducing the attractiveness of tobacco packaging to make it unappealing to consumers.
“We would go for plain packaging. We would decide on the colour preference. We will do everything we can to make sure that the product is not attractive and does not induce especially the young and vulnerable to get glued on tobacco use,” she said.