Togo Tries to Stem the Tobacco Tide (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

HEALTH-AFRICA/ FOR TOGO'S YOUNG PEOPLE, SMOKING IS "COOL" 

September 10, 1998


KARA - Inter Press Service via NewsEdge Corporation : The billboards advertising
cigarettes on the road leading into this northern Togolese town are too big
to miss, and the trucks painted in the colors of cigarette brands that blare
out messages aimed at consumers here are equally visible. 

Together they make up the type of publicity which, non- governmental
organizations (NGOs) say, is making it all the more difficult to curb
smoking, especially among young people. 

The Togolese Blue Cross Federation (FTCB) and the Togolese Association for the
Struggle Against Tobacco Smoking (ATLAT) have teamed up with about a dozen other
anti-smoking NGOs to try and make people aware of the dangers of smoking,
but they fear their efforts have next to no chance of matching the publicity
campaign by cigarette importers. 

"Let's fight for a world without tobacco", "Life without tobacco is better"
and "Tobacco is death" are some of the slogans with which the NGOs are
trying to reach out to students and other young people. However, the impact
of these messages has been very limited, and the reason, says Dr. Severin
Kombate, an intern at the Lome University Hospital (CHU), is that they
target only one group: consumers.  

"The awareness campaign is not reaching the authorities who, in the name of
filling up the state's coffers, allow highly toxic tobacco-based products to
lood the country without any controls," he says. "Moreover, the awareness
campaign is not attacking the ads put out by the importers." 

According to figures from the General Statistical Office, the amount of tobacco,
cigarettes and cigars imported into Togo has been increasing rapidly. It
went from 746 tons in 1995 to 1,173 tons in 1997. In terms of value, the
jump has been even greater: from 4.2 billion CFA francs to 7.4 billion
francs in the same two- year period. (One dollar is equal to 500 CFA francs). 

Reactions from some young people show how much ground the anti-smoking lobby
needs to cover. 

"There isn't a day when I do not smoke," says 22-year-old Moudachirou Ousmane, a
driver's apprentice at the road transport terminus in Kara, 413 kms north of
the Togolese capital, Lome. "I can't live without cigarettes. " 

Says another apprentice, Fataou Ismailou, who looks about 18: "I don't get
much from it but it just makes me feel good. It's really great, especially
when I smoke a cigarette while chewing cola nut (a bitter light narcotic
popular in West Africa). If I were to stop
smoking, I would be committing suicide." 

Sociologists say worsening socio-economic conditions in this West African
country
are among the causes of the increase in smoking. "Sometimes, cigarettes'
attraction can
be psychological," says one sociologist. " Young people take to cigarettes
to fight
shyness, disappointment, acute nervousness or various other cares." 

The importers use various means to encourage smoking among young people,
especially huge advertisement campaigns during which truckloads of beautiful
girls
distribute T-shirts, lighters, ashtrays, matches, umbrellas and an
impressive number of
cartons of cigarettes in the country's main towns and sometimes, even in
villages. 

"There's a better distribution of cigarettes than of drugs or bread," says
sociologist
Sylviane Ahyi, who works as an independent consultant. " From wholesalers to
retailers, importers do not lack the imagination needed to extend their
distribution
networks." 

The government has taken no measure to prevent the advertising of tobacco on the
streets, other public places or the media. It has merely increased import
taxes so as to
earn some additional money from a trade in which it is one of the big
beneficiaries. 

The authorities levy 20 CFA francs on each 20-cigarette pack and on each
cigar, while a
50-gram packet of tobacco nets 60 CFA francs. the state's import earnings
from the
tobacco sector totalled more than 1.7 billion CFA (about $3.4 million) last
year. 

A local health specialist, Prof. Eric Grunitsky, notes that the danger
smoking poses to
people's health is also becoming evident. "At the neurological service, we
register each
year dozens of deaths from the consumption of harmful substances such as
cigarettes
and hard drugs," says Grunitsky, who heads the CHU's Neurological Service.
"Consumers of tobacco and drugs make up five percent of hospitalizations." 

While cigarette boxes bear a compulsory warning about tobacco being dangerous to
one's health, the message is confusing and does not tell the smoker what
percentage of
the cigarette is tar and nicotine. 

A pack of cigarettes has on average 2.8 mg of nicotine and 40 mg of tar," says
Grunitsky. "And that's very dangerous to the smoker, but not everyone
understands
that." 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are more than 800
million
smokers in developing countries and that, in 20 to 30 years time, smoking
will cause
more deaths and invalidity than any other condition, including the acquired
immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS). 

According to the WHO, smoking will kill 10 million people a year in developing
countries by the years 2020-30. 

[Copyright 1998, Inter Press Service]