Fast facts on cigarette smoking for Africans

Overview

1. Disease and Death

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and leads to disease and disability.

• Reliable figures are unavailable in most Africa countries for the number of people living with diverse diseases caused directly by smoking or through second hand smoke exposure.
• Notwithstanding, smoking is known to be a leading cause of preventable illnesses, disabilities and deaths worldwide and Africa would not be an exception.
• It is estimated that of the 8 million people world-wide who will die yearly from cigarette related diseases, between 70 – 80% of these will occur in middle and low income countries like in Africa¹.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system.

The tobacco industry is increasing spending phenomenally each year on cigarette advertising and promotions in many African countries.

• Africa is considered a prime market by the tobacco industry to grow market penetration in foreseeable years. Unlike in the United States, figures on advertising and promotions spending by the tobacco industry in Africa overall are unknown.
• Although the direct and indirect economic cost of smoking is unknown in most African countries the global burden on healthcare costs and lost productivity is estimated at $1.4 trillion dollars. Most of this is incurred in high income countries.¹

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It is estimated that there are about 84 million smokers in Africa currently and this figure is projected to increase by 148% by 2030 if control measures are not instituted.²

Percentage of Africans aged 16 years or older who smoked cigarette in 2012³:

• 14.0% of all adult men
• 3% of adult women

Percentage of African children <15 years old who smoked cigarette in 2012³:

• 9% of boys
• 3% of girls

Note: Current cigarette smokers are defined as persons who reported smoking at least 100 cigarettes during their lifetime and who, at the time they participated in a survey about this topic, reported smoking every day or some days.

Many adult African cigarette smokers have not considered quitting smoking.

National programs on tobacco prevention and control in most African countries are weak or non-existent.

• The cause of this is multifaceted and include:
  • Paucity of data regarding size and dimension of problem around which to build prevention and control programs.
  • Weak health systems capacity for policy making and program planning and intervention.
  • Weak legislative, regulatory and enforcement framework to regulate tobacco sales as well as ban tobacco industry marketing activities.
  • Low funding to drive overall execution of prevention and control programs.
  • Low awareness among populations in Africa for the harmful effect of cigarette smoking consequently deterring community buy-in to prevention and control programs

References:

1. World Health Organization, 2019
2. World Health Organization, 2016
3. Blecher E., and Ross, H. Tobacco use in Africa. American Cancer Society, 2013