African governments have been charged to intensify their efforts in addressing critical issues concerning tobacco use.

This is because the Africa continent has a young population with about 65 percent under the ages of 30, and this population segment is a target and potential market for tobacco industry.

This appeal was made at the second Africa Conference on Tobacco Control and Development held in Accra.

The conference under the auspices of the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) aims to foster effective strategies for tobacco control and development.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister for Health, the Technical Advisor to the Minister, Dr. Darius Osei said tobacco use is a major public health threat worldwide.

He explained that, more than 8.7 million people dying each year from tobacco-related disease and more than 1.3 million deaths attributable to exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Dr. Osei indicated that, harmful effect of tobacco goes beyond health, affecting economies and the environment.

Based on this backdrop, he said Ghana has made a firm commitment to fight tobacco by ratifying the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Protocol on illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in 2005 and 2021 respectively.

 “In line with its commitment to tobacco control and the implementation of the FCTC, the government in 2012 enacted the Public Health Act (Act 851), which contains important tobacco control measures and the Tobacco Control Ordinance (LI 2247) in 2016.

“And more recently, Ghana passed the Excise Duty Amendment Bill (Bill 1093), which changed the structure of the tobacco tax from an AD valorem tax to a hybrid structure (ad valorem and specific tax),” he added.

For his part, the Executive Secretary, ACBF, Mamadou Biteye said according to WHO, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide, surpassing the combined deaths of HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, accidents and homicides.

He added that, tobacco-related illnesses claim approximately eight million lives annually with nearly 900,000 of the deaths attributed to second-hand smoke exposure, mainly affecting women and children.

“This alarming mortality rate equates to approximately 15,000 deaths daily or one death every six seconds and this is causing huge consequences to our health, environment and the economy as a whole,” he stressed.

Mr. Biteye, who doubles as the Conference Chair, stated that tobacco use among African youth is alarming, with prevalence rates ranging from 8% to 43% among boys and 5% to 30% among girls, averaging 27.5%.

He cited that, the aim of the conference is to amplify the voices of the youth and women in their efforts by sharing insights and best practices and as well confront the emerging challenge of tobacco products.