The Foundation for Consumer Freedom and Advancement and the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) have encouraged regulatory agencies, tobacco controllers and public health institutions to embrace tobacco harm reduction as part of tobacco control strategies.
ILAPI issued a statement at a press conference to call on the government and other regulatory authorities to embrace tobacco harm reduction (THR) strategies.
The institute held a webinar with experts in public health policy and consumer advocates to facilitate discussions on the THR strategies that have been deployed across 59 countries.
These countries have been evaluated in a global index titled “Effective Anti-smoking Policies Global Index.”
The executive director of ILAPI, Peter Bismark Kwofie, in an interview with Asaase News said findings from the global index show that embracing THR strategies through the use of reduced risk alternatives, such as non-combustible, smokeless tobacco or nicotine products, is critical to prevent majority of the harm associated with smoking.
He said “the most up-to-date scientific evidence indicates that reduced risk alternative products are the most effective method to quit smoking and avoid most of the health harms associated with smoking. For many decades, we have been aware of the dangers of smoking.
“We have known for a long time that it is the smoke from combustion, not the nicotine, that is to blame. We also know that we can distribute nicotine in low-risk methods.”
Kwofie said that, countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, New Zealand, Japan and Norway have successfully implemented THR approaches.
He stated that Ghana can learn from their policies and frameworks to tailor its policies on tobacco control to the unique needs of its population.
He added that the THR approaches have made Sweden, by far, country with the lowest rates of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in the European Union. Smoking rates in the country have declined to a level where the country can officially become the first smoke-free country in the world.
Kwofie said when Norway made snus products more broadly accessible, cigarette consumption dropped by half in ten years.
For decades, Ghana has tried to curb smoking through packaging education and taxation with limited success. Reduction in smoking prevalence has generally slowed, with modest annual declines but a lot more can be achieved.
In response to the opportunities that can be provided through THR approaches, Kwofie said the government of Ghana should establish a regulatory framework that enables and facilitates access to THR products, support public education campaigns to raise awareness on the benefits of THR, increase the availability of THR products across the country, establish nicotine replacement therapy programs, collaborate with private sector stakeholders, conduct research and monitoring to assess the effectiveness of THR policies and frameworks.
He said the positive results of embracing THR approaches include a reduction in smoking prevalence in Ghana. He added that this can be accelerated through a balanced policy and clear messages to smokers.
Reporting by Solomon Mensah-Ahiable in the Oti Region
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