Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
John Muchangi
2 June 2011
TOBACCO control efforts are appear to be failing because of blame game between government officers. Ministry of Public Health officials yesterday said their efforts on war on tobacco use were being frustrated by the failure of other ministries to implement the 2007 Tobacco Control Act. “This is not just a Public Health ministry project,” said Dr William Maina, head of the non-communicable diseases department, at a breakfast sponsored by the World Health Organisation to mark the World No Tobacco Day.
He said the police had failed to enforce the Act and the ministry of Finance had on its part refused to raise taxes on cigarettes to make them unaffordable.
The landmark 2007 Act was expected to drastically reduce the number of smokers but recent surveys show that between 2003 and 2009, the number had only reduced by five per cent.
Ministry of Agriculture says land under tobacco had increased from 13,000 hectares to 15,000 hectares in the last three years. Governments across the world are against smoking because research shows it is the leading cause of preventable diseases like heart diseases and cancer.
Public Health minister Beth Mugo said every year 22,100 Kenyans died from cancer. “Majority of these diseases and deaths are preventable through implementation of interventions such as tobacco control,” she said in a speech read by Public Health Director Shahnaaz Sharif. The tobacco Act establishes a Tobacco Control Board which was inaugurated by minister Mugo in 2009.
But board vice chair Irene Wanyoike said yesterday the board was unable to operate as it has no office and had not been given funds.
Others who addressed the meeting were head of disease prevention Dr Willis Akhwale and WHO country representative Dr Abdoulie Jack.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Continued here:
WHO Anti-Cigarette War Goes Up in Smoke