Despite the anti-tobacco law and the anti-tobacco program, people still continue to obtain them. Tobacco consumption remains the daily life of many Senegalese people, manufacturing companies are looking for other means to circumvent the law, by making tobacco-derived products such as chicha, which is an electronic cigarette, available to the population or more sweets containing nicotine. Products that contribute to reducing gains noted at the start of the implementation of the anti-tobacco law in 2016, passed in the Assembly in 2014, with a ban on the consumption of tobacco products in public places, the sale to minors or the marketing of tobacco within 200 meters of a school or hospital.
In the same way, the regulations prohibit the sale of single cigarettes and any form of advertising, direct or indirect, in favor of tobacco. Finally, 70% of the surface of tobacco packets is now covered with health warnings (image and text), showing the risks that smoking poses to health. Today, the majority of these measures have been flouted. People smoke in public spaces without being worried, in private places, there are few managers who respect the space reserved for smokers.
A situation which has led civil society actors to advocate for an increase in tobacco taxation in Senegal. Thus, at the end of 2021, the Senegalese League Against Tobacco urged the Ministry of Health and Social Action of Senegal to significantly increase taxation on tobacco products, with a dual objective of reducing smoking prevalence of 10% and to contribute to a fund to finance the fight against tobacco. In 2023, the Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (Cocidev Africa) also called for better financing of tobacco control, through a communication and advocacy campaign, with a view to increasing taxation on tobacco. tobacco.
Cicodev thus highlighted the burden that smoking weighs on Senegalese public finances, and the lack of resources allocated to public health. To this end, he proposed the creation of a parafiscal tax on tobacco products which would be directly allocated to financing Senegalese public health in general, and the fight against smoking and non-communicable diseases in particular. However, despite the numerous initiatives, the voice of state authorities struggles to reason.
Hookah, the new scam
To mark Anti-Tobacco Day in Senegal, the Senegalese Anti-Tobacco League held a communication workshop in Dakar last week, in order to raise awareness among young people about the new products made available to them by companies. According to Doctor Abdoul Aziz Kassé, smoking is decreasing in Western countries because there is a legal arsenal that has been put in place and which fights against tobacco. Which is not the case in African countries.
For the latter, the tobacco industry has changed strategy and is now targeting young people. So, instead of selling tobacco, this industry offers alternative substances that are no longer the same. “Shisha is plaguing the country because a one-hour session is the equivalent of 20 to 100 cigarettes. Mali has taken its responsibilities by banning shisha, why not in Senegal. The tobacco industry said to itself that rather than selling tobacco, now I’m going to sell addiction. I’m going to take the most addictive substance called nicotine which I’m going to put in puffs. These puffs look like markers that are sold to children,” said Dr. Kassé. And added: “They are extremely dangerous for maintaining a certain form of dependence. There are also other forms of delivery called nicotine sachets.
An insufficient budget dedicated to health
According to a study conducted by the Consortium for Economic and Social Research (CRES), a think tank based in Dakar, the social cost of smoking is estimated at 122 billion CFA francs (185 million euros) per year for Senegalese society. , including 74 billion for health costs alone. According to Cicodev which provided the information, for comparison, tax revenues associated with tobacco products represent 24 billion annual CFA francs (36 million euros), i.e. a deficit of 98 billion (149 million euros). ).
Despite the economic burden represented by tobacco consumption in Senegal, the Ministry of Health only allocates 25 million CFA francs per year, or less than 40,000 euros. Today, Cicodev recognizes strong interference from the tobacco industry in Senegal. The members of this consortium support the Senegalese league and also alert public authorities of the need to fight against the lobbying of the tobacco industry, which sees developing countries as a new market, making it possible to compensate for the decline of consumption, which has been underway for several decades in industrialized countries.
Despite the adoption in 2014 of a law prohibiting in principle any contact between public authorities and the tobacco industry, Cocidev maintains: “ Senegal has not completely escaped attempts at interference by manufacturers. Thus, in 2021, a decree allowed Senegal to adopt the Codentify system for traceability of tobacco products, even though it comes directly from tobacco companies, whose involvement in illicit trade is nevertheless established. “.
Source: Sud Quotidien
