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Uganda ranked 3rd best in Tobacco regulation
Tobacco smoking is considered harmful to humanity by the World Health Organization. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Government recently sought a supplementary budget of Shs11.2b (about $3.1m) to compensate tobacco farmers who were demanding pay from two tobacco companies.
Uganda has been ranked the third best country in the world in regard to effective tobacco control.
The latest ranking by the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020 produced by the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), pegs Uganda third after Brunei (1st) and France .
The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index is a universal survey on how governments across the globe are responding to tobacco industry interference and protecting public health policies from commercial interests of tobacco industries as required under the World Health Organisation.
In Africa Uganda came first in 14 countries followed by Kenya in ninth position.
Ethiopia followed in 10th, Nigeria 15th, Sudan 19, Ghana 20th, in the second 10-19 group category score. Other participating African countries included South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia.
The executive director for the Uganda National Health Consumers’ Organisation (UNHCO), a health rights NGO, Ms Robinah Kaitirimba, said although Uganda was globally recognised for its robust anti-tobacco legislation and policies, there are still some gaps that need to be bridged.
In her response regarding the report, she said the Tobacco Control Act prohibits any benefits to the tobacco industry but government recently sought a supplementary budget of Shs11.2b (about $3.1m) to compensate tobacco farmers who were demanding pay from two tobacco companies; Nimataback Ltd and Continental Tobacco.
While speaking at the national launch for the same report organised by UNHCO in Kampala on Thursday, Dr Victoria Walusansa, the deputy executive director of Uganda Cancer Institute, said they are registering an increase in mouth related cancers, especially from the youth who have made it fashionable to smoke tobacco products like ‘shisha’.
Likewise, the executive director of the Uganda Cancer Society, Mr Paul Ebusu, said there is a need to carry out more sensitisation about the dangers of tobacco among the youth if the country is to avoid a bigger burden caused by tobacco smoking.
“Traditionally we used to think that only lung cancer results from smoking tobacco but there are several other cancers associated with tobacco smoking. The sad part is that we are seeing youth, especially young girls, taking up smoking,” Mr Ebusu noted.
Dr Charles Oyoo, the commissioner for Non-Communicable Diseases at the Health ministry, revealed that cardiovascular diseases, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases are currently the leading cause of premature deaths (deaths before clocking 70 years) in the country standing at 22 percent, and the rate of smoking countrywide is stagnating at 3.3 percent since 2019.
