According to a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health, the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), the Secretariat of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), WHO, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), tobacco use continues to be a significant public health issue in Ghana. More than 800,000 Ghanaians are still smoking, and every year, tobacco use is responsible for more than 6,700 deaths, with 66 percent of these deaths being premature for people under 70 years of age.
In response to this issue, Mr. Peter Bismark Kwofie, the Executive Director of the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), has called on health sector stakeholders and policymakers to adopt an educative medium-to-long-term approach to reducing tobacco use rather than a short-term radical approach of denying consumers the right to make choices.
Mr. Kwofie believes that harm reduction strategies, rather than an outright ban on tobacco products, are a more effective public health solution. According to him, absolutely quitting the habit of smoking is difficult, and therefore, alternatives to reduce the harm caused by tobacco, subsequently leading to quitting smoking, should be explored.
One such alternative is Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR), which recognizes the harm caused by combustible cigarettes and aims to minimize the health impacts of cigarette smoking by encouraging adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch completely to scientifically substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives.
While some have proposed increasing taxes on tobacco products and banning THR products as the best initiatives to prevent people from smoking, Mr. Kwofie believes that high taxes on tobacco products are not an effective public health measure. Instead, he suggests exploring other less costly and harmful measures to address the consumer choice addiction rate of tobacco, while not curtailing consumer choice.
