Community-based advocacy opportunities for tobacco control: experience from Tanzania.
Tanzania is third in Africa in tobacco production after Malawi and Zimbabwe. In spite of increased production, Tanzania remains a poor country, with tobacco farmers getting poorer and the country losing more than 16,500 hectares of forests annually from tobacco curing alone. Tanzania grows fire-cured and air-cured tobacco. Regarding tobacco use, 35% of Tanzanians smoke tobacco regularly and about 32% of all cancers at Ocean Road Cancer Institute are attributed to tobacco use, with the country spending more than $30m annually to treat tobacco-related cancers. Unfortunately, knowledge on tobacco-related hazards is limited even among policy/decision makers. However, surveys indicate that more than 65% of resource-poor tobacco farmers favour alternative livelihoods when assured of sustainable markets. There is need of intensifying advocacy campaigns against tobacco, in order to improve the socio-economic status of tobacco farmers, enhance public health and sustain the environment in Tanzania.
Kagaruki
Lutgard K
LK
Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum, PO Box 33105, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. lutgardk@yahoo.com
D000383:Agriculture; D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013636:Tanzania