The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has intensified surveillance to tackle outbreak of diseases, which usually occur during the rainy season.

Dr Humphrey Okoroukwu, the Director of Public Health in the Health and Human Services Secretariat, FCTA, made this disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday, May 27, 2018.

Okoroukwu said his department had embarked on a sensitisation programme to educate the FCT communities on the need to ensure clean environment as well as drink clean and safe water.

The director said that as the rainy season set in, diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and malaria were common among the people.

He urged residents in the communities, who had no access to pipe borne water to boil their water before drinking, saying that could be easily contaminated during this season.

The director also enjoined residents to clear their surroundings and drains to avoid mosquitoes, which could transmit malaria.

“I am urging residents of the territory to go to the nearby health centres if they have any issues.

“Accessing health care on time is important because real time reporting will help in quick response,’’ he said.

Okoroukwu said his department would continue to educate and sensitise residents of the territory, especially those in the rural areas to minimise any disease outbreak arising from rainy season.

By Mustapha Sumaila

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has written to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) asking it to have nothing to do with the Foundation for A Smoke-Free World created by multi-national tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), which is currently actively seeking partners around the world.

ERA/FoEN, in the letter dated May 15, 2018 and signed by Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of its board, said it learnt that the Foundation is now in talks with the International Centre for Biotechnology (ICB) – a Category II Centre under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) domiciled at the UNN to support alternative livelihoods for Africa’s smallholder tobacco farmers.

The group said it is of the view that if this organisation succeeds in building a base of partners and collaborators, it will endanger years of progress of preventing and reducing tobacco use and nicotine addiction.

The letter was sent to the Vice Chancellor of UNN, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, and copies sent to the President of Nigeria, Vice-President, Ministers of Education and Health, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, and the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.

The group said that UNN should follow the honourable path of 17 public health schools in the U.S. and Canada, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins early this year that pledged to refuse any form of research money from the foundation, citing the fact that it is too closely tied to an industry that sells “deadly products to millions”.

It noted that the Foundation for Smoke-free World was formed to promote research into so-called “reduced-risk” products currently being developed and marketed by PMI and other tobacco companies which will enable PMI to boost its credibility as a legitimate stakeholder in discussions about tobacco risk reduction while still aggressively market Marlboro and other cigarette brands.

PMI has also sued countries acting to implement the policies proven to reduce tobacco use.

The letter adds, “WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) – and not PMI’s alleged ‘harm reduction’ business strategy or its foundation – represents global consensus on how to prevent and reduce tobacco use and associated death and disease.

PMI’s Foundation is an effort to deflect attention from the company’s efforts to prevent the WHO FCTC from being fully implemented. In fact, an investigative report published by Reuters in July 2017 revealed a massive, secret campaign by PMI to undermine the WHO FCTC, depicting “a company that has focused its vast global resources on bringing to heel the world’s tobacco control treaty.”

ERA/FoEN alerted that representatives of the Foundation have begun contacting civil society organisations, conference committees and other entities around the world to initiate dialogue, influence these organizations’ agendas, and inform them about potential “funding opportunities.”

While urging UNN to refuse any kind of funding from the foundation, ERA/FoEN said that the ICB and the UNN risks undermining their reputation and credibility by associating with the Foundation.

Worldwide, cigarette smoking results in 7.2 million deaths every year, with about half a million of those deaths occurring in Africa .To curb this menace and bring an end to unnecessary deaths, there is urgent need to quickly adopt and promote reduced-risk alternatives aimed at accelerating the transition out of harmful tar-based cigarettes. We should (including tobacco companies) embrace technology and innovations to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and well-being by offering practical smoke-free alternatives to smokers.

Alternatives to cigarette smoking can create a big impact on health in society. Given the undisputed harm caused by cigarettes on human health, the potential negative impacts of e-cigarettes are certainly pale by comparison as there is no tar in e-cigarettes. Stakeholders in the industry must offer alternative products as an important smoking cessation tool. I believe we can have a big impact on public health by promoting alternatives to smoking cigarettes.

Many smokers in Africa are unable – or at least unwilling – to achieve cessation through complete nicotine and tobacco abstinence; they continue smoking despite the very real and obvious adverse health consequences. This is demonstrated by the fact that most smokers in Africa (if not all), are clearly aware of the dangers of smoking, yet they continue to do so. Conventional smoking cessation policies and programs generally present smokers with two unpleasant alternatives: quit, or die.

Millions of men and women who smoke cigarettes regularly are looking for less harmful, yet satisfying, alternatives to smoking. A new generation of alternative tobacco products could offer a breakthrough for harm reduction, appealing to smokers, in a time where current anti-smoking campaigns are considerably not cutting through.

The public health community embraces harm reduction to prevent STD transmission and address drug addiction (e.g., condoms, needle exchanges). This is because evidence showed that prohibition and abstinence don’t work. So, it’s plausible that harm reduction can complement (not replace) traditional tobacco control measures  – leading to still faster smoking declines. We just want smokers to quit by any means: pharmacotherapies including NRTs, counseling, wearables, apps, alternative medicines… whatever works. If they can’t quit that way, then harm reduction reduces harm.

To date, harm reduction approaches have not been widely used in Africa in relation to tobacco smoking. The emphasis has been on population and individual health strategies focused on encouraging existing smokers to quit and preventing uptake among young people. These approaches have been effective and should continue to be encouraged, to help reach the goal of more tobacco-free people in Africa.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over a billion people currently smoke cigarettes, and this number is projected to remain largely unchanged by 2025. Globally seven million people die from tobacco annually despite the efforts of the anti-tobacco agencies and world-wide anti-smoking campaigns.

If we embrace these lifesaving alternatives we can begin to save lives now and witness Africa becoming smoke-free in our lifetime.

By Joseph Magero (Director, Campaign for Safer Alternatives)