Poor countries could be at risk of being dumping ground for combustible cigarettes, harm reduction activist Dr. Letlape warns
Renowned public health activist, Dr. Kgosi Letlape, has warned that developing countries, particularly those in Africa, could soon be a dumping ground for combustible cigarettes if authorities do not put in place regulations that restrict importation and consumption of the cigarettes.
Politics, education, health, and more—get the latest news that matters most to you.
protected by reCAPTCHA
Advertisement
Renowned public health activist, Dr. Kgosi Letlape, has warned that developing countries, particularly those in Africa, could soon be a dumping ground for combustible cigarettes if authorities do not put in place regulations that restrict importation and consumption of the cigarettes.
Letlape sounded the warning during his keynote presentation at the opening of the Third Edition of Harm Reduction Exchange Conference underway at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
Advertisement
Dr Letlape–WHO is misleading nations about combustible cigarettes–Photo by Watipaso Mzungu.
The South African ophthalmologist and healthcare expert was presenting on the benefits of adopting harm reduction strategies and impediments to broad adoption of the strategies in public health.
Letlape is the past president of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), founded the Africa Medical Association (AMA) in 2006, and is former chairman of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), past president of the World Medical Association (WMA) and former Executive Director of the Tshepang Trust. He also serves as a member of The Global Hygiene Council.
Over the recent past, he has been advocating for alternatives to combustible cigarettes, stressing that they are less harmful and could prevent early deaths among the smokers around the world.
But Letlape expressed disappointment that disinformation and misinformation continues to thrive around smoking, with the World Health Organization (WHO) taking the lead in spreading lies about combustible cigarettes.
Advertisement
He also accused WHO of frustrating efforts to promote harm reduction interventions in developing countries.
He said there is a high likelihood that developing countries could become a dumping ground for combustible cigarettes if governments do not put in place regulations to restrict consumption of the cigarettes.
“When it is speaking to developing countries, it is ‘Thou shall….’, but when it is talking to rich countries, it is ‘Here is the information. You can use it,’” lamented Letlape.
Advertisement
A cross-section of the participants to the Harm Reduction Exchange 2023 Conference currently underway at Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi–Photo by Watipaso Mzungu
He said people who smoke are not safe, adding that combustible cigarette smoking claims eight million deaths per annum.
“As a doctor, one thing I can advise you about smoking, is to quit. But if you can’t quit, you have to reduce to improve your health,” he advised, further calling upon societies not to discriminate against smokers.
Letlape emphasized that smokers need love and care while efforts are being made to help them quit or find alternatives to smoking.
“Smokers are people. If they can’t quit, they cannot be abandoned. I am not a supporter of combustible cigarettes because the problem with cigarettes is combustion. I advocate for e-cigarettes because they are 98 percent less harmful than combustible cigarettes. So, we need regulation. We need to advocate for an environment where truth can prevail,” he said.
To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.