Surge in smoking ‘to claim more lives in Africa’
More Africans risk dying from smoking as tobacco use will double over the next 12 years in a continent where 90 percent of people have no protection against second-hand smoke, experts said Wednesday.
Africa accounts for 14 percent of the world population and has only four percent of world smokers, presenting an opportunity to tackle the habit and reduce its effects, said Tom Glynn of the The Global Smokefree Partnership.
“If we don’t act now on tobacco control in Africa, millions of lives will be lost because tobacco is now becoming an issue in Africa,” Glynn told AFP.
A joint report by the Global Smokefree Partnership and the American Cancer Society (ACS) launched in Dar es Salaam called for smoking bans in public places, high taxes and doubling the price of cigarettes.
