A Professor of Public Health, and a Pro-Vice Chancellor, of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has urged Ghanaians to ensure strict compliance with the smoke-free policy in public places as stipulated in the Public Health Act.
Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo said that Smoke-free policies are public-sector regulations and private-sector rules that prohibit smoking in indoor spaces and designated public areas. He said a study carried out by the KNUST School of Public Health, revealed that the implementation of smoke free policy in Ghana is porous.
He noted that their study showed that a huge percentage of Ghanaians are being exposed to second-hand smoking in public areas where there was supposed to be restrictions or complete ban on smoking in some hospitality venues. Prof. Owusu-Dabo made these revelations at Alisa Hotel on Wednesday, 1st September, 2021 during a Tobacco Control Capacity Programme (TCCP), Dissemination and Engagement Meeting in Accra, organized by the KNUST School of Public Health. "We should adhere to the ban on smoking in public places. We should also ensure that we protect each other from the harmful effects of tobacco,” Prof. Owusu-Dabo said.
He bemoaned the flooding of the Ghanaian market with illicit tobacco and called for the tightening of the borders.
“It is important also to realize that when it comes to illicit tobacco trade it is a problem, that the Government should take action to tighten the borders in ensuring that we implement the full-scale ad valorem tax in tandem with modern trends, which would ensure that people do not take up to smoking, because smoking as we know it is a very important predator risk factor for several noncommunicable diseases.”
The Pro-Vice Chancellor said while the nation had not won the battle with infectious diseases, it was important that Ghanaians did not attempt to fuel the double burden of non-communicable diseases as well. In terms of taxation, Prof. Owusu-Dabo said their study findings indicated that Ghana was doing well in the West Africa sub-region.
The Tobacco control programme funded by a grant from the Research Councils UK, as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund, began in 2018. It is led by Professor Linda Bauld from the University of Edinburgh. The research also involves academics in six UK Universities and eight research organizations in Africa and South Asia. The aim of the TCCP is to improve research capacity in low- and middle-income countries such as Ghana to conduct high quality studies that will generate evidence on how to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by tobacco use and to advance key development priorities.
The TCCP-Ghana till date has conducted two major research areas: smoke-free policy and illicit tobacco trade under the leadership of Prof Ellis Owusu-Dabo, the Principal Investigator for the TCCP in Ghana. The programme is scheduled to end in December 2021.