Stakeholders advocate alternatives for tobacco harm reduction

Stakeholders concerned with the growing harms associated with tobacco smoking have called for the adoption of alternative cigarettes as a way of achieving a smoke-free country in Nigeria.

The stakeholders, which include public health experts, academics, non-governmental organisations, students, and the media, made this call at a roundtable event organised by ValueFrontiea Limited and held in Ikeja, Lagos State.

The keynote speaker, Teslim Shitta-Bay, noted that it is high time for Nigeria to shift attention to alternatives to non-combustible smoking as a way of curbing the health implications associated with smoking.

He also stressed that there is a need for the devaluation of cigarettes through the introduction of other alternatives that can provide the same satisfaction for smokers but with minimal health effects which will help to achieve a smoke-free environment.

Shitta-Bay said, “The dangers associated with tobacco smoking are not limited to death alone. The economic toll is equally staggering, with substantial smoking-related healthcare and productivity losses and negative impacts on the environment.

“Several countries are beginning to shift to alternative non-combustible risk reduction tobacco alternatives to reduce the associated health, economic and productivity risks associated in line with the 2021 US Surgeon General’s Report as published by the National Library of Medicine, namely: “the most rapid way to reduce the tobacco-related death and disease would be to ‘devalue’ cigarettes”.

“Devalued cigarettes are non-combustible tobacco alternatives that minimise the risks of tobacco smoking. Sweden has become the global example in shifting to tobacco alternatives and achieving the lowest smoking rates globally.”

Reacting, a Public health expert, Oyekanmi Imoleayo, decried that the addictive nature of tobacco has resulted in daily deaths of young persons many of which happened unrecorded.

“When we look at the effect of cigarette smoking broadly, there are exceptional cases that smokers may live long but on the day-to-day practice, you see a lot of young people that died of smoking and were not been captured by data. Data has shown that people die from smoking daily.

“The reason why people smoke most of the time is because of the nicotine present in tobacco but if we can get alternative that people can take and avoid tobacco that comprises of other chemicals that are harmful to the body, we can achieve the 5% benchmark of a smoke-free environment.”

In his remarks, the president of ValueFrontiea Limited, Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, stressed that Nigeria should adopt the Sweden model of providing alternative cigarettes to smokers rather than thinking of placing a ban on cigarette smoking.

“Nigeria must double its efforts to arrest this trend by learning best practices from Sweden’s success in this respect. Sweden has become a beacon of hope in the global fight against tobacco, with its unique approach to tobacco control leading to a significant decrease in smoking rates and a consequent improvement in public health. The country’s strategy centred around promoting safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes, such as smokeless tobacco products like snus and nicotine-based tobacco-free options.

“This approach has been pivotal in Sweden’s success in reducing smoking-related diseases and mortality rates. Moreover, Sweden’s strategy, combining traditional tobacco control methods with harm reduction strategies, could save 15.5 million lives in the next decade if adopted by other African countries. This model is consistent with the Article 1 objective of the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, focusing on supply, demand, and harm reduction strategies,” Ike-Muonso disclosed.