The Institute of Leadership and Development has called on President Akufo-Addo to place a temporary ban on tobacco products until a vaccine or a cure for Covid-19 is discovered.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, the Institute’s Director, Benjamin Anabila said with Covid-19 being a respiratory disease causing severe conditions to smokers compared to non-smokers it will be in the public's interest to suspend the sales and use of tobacco.

Mr Anabila noted that although the tobacco industry may be affected immensely, with Covid-19 still causing havoc in many countries, no business is more important than the lives of the citizenry.

He stressed that the Covid-19 pandemic must be wake up call for the tobacco companies and their customers the health conditions of their actions and strive to adopt methods to regulate consumption.

“The health of the people is the prosperity of a nation. So in this time that we are calling for a temporary ban, the tobacco industry should also understand that if there are no people, they won’t have a business.

“So they should also be concerned about the health of people before they even think about the growth or drop in their profit margin,” he stated.

According to him, eight million people die globally due to the consumption of tobacco products.

Therefore, government will be saving countless lives, should the ban be implemented.

Earlier, the Institute had called on government to reject any support from the tobacco industry to assist the country combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

They noted that accepting support of any form from tobacco affiliated companies will compromise government’s ability to fully implement the law regulating the consumption of their products.

Citing tobacco to be a major factor of non-communicable disease including respiratory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and diabetes, Mr Anabila said citizens must be concerned about the devastating consequence of tobacco products.

The Institute of Leadership and Development is a Civil Society Organisation who is a member of the African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) that has dedicated itself to prevent an epidemic of tobacco use on the continent and its detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of Africans.