Entebbe, Uganda - The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) convened a  high-level tow-day meeting on tobacco taxation to enable countries including Ethiopia Gambia Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda,  have a better knowledge of the Italy tax project and share experiences among each other. The meeting also provided  an opportunity to beneficiary countries to strengthen their present tobacco tax policies.

The Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) Focal Person at the Ministry of Health (MoH) of  Uganda, Dr. Sheila Ndyanabangi officially opened the meeting acknowledging the efforts of WHO to tackle tobacco consumption in Africa. She also recognized the difficulties in implementing tobacco control interventions in different countries saying “we hope to address challenges in all countries present.” 

Dr. Ndyanabangyi however expressed her optimism in fighting tobacco consumption and urged advocates not to cave in.

The WHO AFRO Project Officer for Tobacco Dr. William Maina represented the WHO Country representative in Uganda and noted that  a significant increase in tobacco product taxes and prices is the single most cost-effective intervention for reducing tobacco use, particularly among the young and the poor. “The benefits of higher tobacco taxes are obvious, both in terms of good health outcomes for individuals and entire communities, resulting from reduced tobacco consumption”, he noted.

The technical support provided by WHO to Africa countries since 2010 displays some champion countries in terms of best practices in tobacco tax policy like Kenya, Gambia and South Africa. At present, Uganda and Ethiopia, are WHO countries of intervention through support in tax technical work provided to ministries of finance. Subsequently,  the support will be expanded to Mozambique and Tanzania.

Additionally, WHO has been working with the Ministries of Finance of different countries around the world to support country efforts to implement Article 6 the WHO  Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which mandates decrease in tobacco consumption by using tax and price measures. Of the policies called for in the WHO FCTC, a significant increase in tobacco product taxes and prices has been demonstrated to be the single most effective and cost-effective intervention for reducing tobacco use.

In a nutshell, WHO provides technical assistance in order to strengthen analytical and administrative capacity of tax administrators such that the existing tobacco tax systems are improved and tailored to the economic and health objectives of each country.

Subsequently the tobacco experts convened another three-day multi-country meeting involving Algeria, Cape Verde, Central Africa Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe and Uganda   to raise awareness on the Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products among various government sectors. The meeting also provided an opportunity for countries to identify and address challenges faced in the process of ratification, acceptance, approval formal confirmation and accession of the protocol.

The Acting World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative in Uganda, Dr. Jack Abdoulie, opened the meeting and pointed out that Tobacco use is the single most important cause of preventable deaths, killing around 6 million people a year, globally. “More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600 000 are the result of exposure to second-hand smoke”, he said.

Dr. Abdoulie further noted that Illicit trade has a huge impact on the economic and social fabric of society. “In addition to the lost revenue which undermines the tax base of economies, it obstructs economic development, undermines government health policy objectives such as youth access prevention and the rule of law”, he said.

The Minister of Health was represented by Dr. Sheila Ndyanabangyi, the NCD focal person at the Ministry of Health (MoH) and in her remarks stated that Uganda participated in all negotiations towards the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), signed it in 2005 and ratified it to become a policy in 2007. She further appreciated the support of WHO to the MoH especially in providing technical assistance including economists and revenue experts, justice experts whose mandate in implementing the Tobacco taxation policy and illicit trade is important. “We have always had strong support from WHO in regards to tobacco control”, she added.

During the workshop, WHO raised awareness and called for increased commitment of Member States to ratify or accede to the Protocol. Additionally, WHO identified the specific technical requirements for countries to accelerate the process of ratification, and the obstacles to the progress towards ratification for those countries that had signed and acceding for those who had not yet signed the Protocol.

Member states agreed on a clear roadmap to accelerate ratification and accession of the protocol.  It is expected that following this workshop, there will be increased government commitment to ratifying or acceding and implementing the Protocol in the African Region.

However, despite the WHO FCTC being the most widely accepted Treaty globally with 180 Parties to date, there has been a slowed adoption of the protocol at country level. Currently, 25 countries have ratified this treaty where nine are from the African Region. The treaty cannot come into force until at least 40 members have ratified.

Therefore, WHO will continue to provide technical support to countries to implement effective tobacco control interventions including the adoption of the Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products as well as to align efforts towards cooperation across the government and to develop Multi-sectoral action, health-in-all policies and whole-of-government approaches.