‘TOBACCO COMPANIES NOW TARGETING CHILDREN’ 

By Sandra Machima

CHILDREN are now a target to illicit products that are affordable and accessible to communities, hence the urgent need to protect them before the nation loses its generation, the Tobacco Control Consortium of Zambia (TCCZ) has said.

TCCZ Acting chairperson Albert Phiri said the tobacco industry whose interest was to make profit, had been promoting and misleadingly marketing its “next generation” flavoured products like e-cigarettes, vaping, and shisha as safe, hence influencing young people to consume such products as part of their pleasure.

Mr. Phiri said ensuring a safe and supportive environment was essential to safeguard children from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

He said consuming harmful products had resulted in many children being denied their rights to access education, health and many more.

He said enacting Tobacco Control Legislation would be the foundation for a healthy nation and would also reduce the accessibility and affordability of tobacco products for children, especially near schools and the communities at large.

“Unfortunately, tobacco is the prominent thread that is woven into all these negative outcomes. Our children and youth encounter numerous obstacles that hinder their development and opportunities.

“Our country needs to urgently avert the growing trends in tobacco use -particularly among our young people who are vulnerable in society and such products have torn the fabric of our society and weakened it through raising the generation that is affected,” Mr. Ayong said.

Ensuring the well-being of children, he said, was fundamental for the progress and success of every country, adding that the government, civil society organisations, businesses, educators, artists, and everyday individuals should work together to reinforce policies and increase awareness in order to counter the manipulative strategies of the Tobacco Industries and safeguard public health.

“We emphasize the necessity for a comprehensive societal approach to protect the health and well-being of future generations, and therefore the government must expedite the tobacco control legislation to change the narrative,” he said.

He said studies indicated that if Zambia does not enact the legislation, the number of people using tobacco will increase by more than 40 percent by 2030, while enactment of a tobacco control law will lead to a 30 percent reduction greatly assisting Zambia to meet its sustainable development goal on tobacco use.

And Vital Voices for Africa (VVA) executive director Caleb Ayong said tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death worldwide with at least 8 million tobacco-related deaths occurring every year.

Mr. Ayong said Sustainable Development Goals 14 would not be achieved with tobacco industry operations, so do SDG 3 that was promoting universal health coverage, disease prevention, and mental health promotion, tobacco use directly contradicts these goals, causing diseases like cancer, heart ailments, and respiratory disorders.

He said tobacco was infringing upon children’s basic rights to health and welfare and child labour in tobacco production persisting in many parts of Africa.

“The tobacco industry targets young people with aggressive marketing, investing billions on the advertisement of its products and engages in its false claims that E-cigarettes with youth-friendly flavours (bubble-gum, candy), and other tobacco products that attract young users, are healthier alternatives to smoking.”