A coalition of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) on Thursday raised the alarm over ploy by tobacco companies to get children in the African continent to get hooked by tobacco addiction.
The was the thrust of a webinar titled: ‘Effective Reporting Children and Tobacco Addiction’ organized by Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) in collaboration with Vital Voices for Africa (VVA) and Kenya-based Being Africa.
The webinar, organized in commemoration of World No Tobacco Day, with over 60 journalists from 20 African countries in attendance, threw up disturbing facts among which is that Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 49 use tobacco and expended an estimated N526.4 billion in 2019 alone for treating diseases caused by tobacco.
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Speakers at the briefing revealed a grim statistics which indicates that tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, claiming the lives of 6 million people every year.
Philip Jakpor, the Executive Director of RDI, stated that nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start before age, highlighting the vulnerability of the youth.
According to him, Nicotine addiction begins during adolescence when. young brains are still developing and the tobacco industry strategically targets youth with aggressive advertising, aiming to replace the lives lost to their deadly products.
While speaking on the topic:’Producing Captivating Reports on Youth Tobacco Smoking’, Jakpor challenged the media to live up to their role in Tobacco control which he described as, ‘The MPOWER’ package of the World Health Organisation (WHO) focusing on six effective measures to reduce demand for tobacco products.
He listed where to get tobacco stories that concern children to include: Tobacco farms,Tobacco factories, Social media platforms,Hospitals, Schools, Entertainment centers, Homes of victims, and Shopping malls.
According to the RDI Executive Director, for stories to be seen as credible the right people should be interviewed.
Some of them are tobacco farmers, students, Children themselves, parents, medical professionals, government officials, victims of tobacco use, tobacco control groups, and teachers, among others.
Other speaking at the event includes Mr. Achieng Otieno, Founder, Being Africa, Oluchi Joy Robert, a Tobacco Control Advocate, Caleb Ayong, and Mohammed Maikuri, Development Gateway.
They all lamented that Tobacco industry covertly engages in product advertisement through product placements in movies, music videos and use of social media to reach the younger audience.
According to a 2020 cross-sectional study of school adolescents in Lagos, Nigeria, the most frequently reported channel of exposure was through product placements, with 62% reporting exposure in films, TV, and videos. Up to 15.2% and 12.6% were exposed to TAPS through promotional activities and sponsorships, respectively.
According to the group, “by TAPS we mean tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS) Flavoured Products
The tobacco industry creates flavoured products that are more attractive to young people, making it easier for them to start smoking. Young people getting their hands on thousands of sweet flavours that appeal to their adventurous and sense of taste, leads to product addiction.
“Tobacco products are often easily accessible to children and young people, whether through stores or online platforms. It might interest you to know that you can order a whole vaping kit and complete shisha smoking kit online from jumia, konga and Jiji and get same day as well as door step delivery”.
