Tobacco control policies used in African countries have mostly been informed by research designed and conducted to answer questions to provide solutions for developed settings.

Very few policies are is based on tobacco control research generated by researchers on the continent to influence policy discussions in African countries.

This is why, as one of the agencies on the African continent that has been involved in tobacco control support on the continent for the last decade, the CTCA has teamed up with the Africa Capacity Building Foundation to launch the first Africa Conference on Tobacco and Development.

The 1st Africa Conference on Tobacco Control and Development is jointly hosted by the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa and the Africa Capacity Building Foundation.

With the theme Tobacco Free Africa: An urgent call for joint action, the aim of the conference is to bring together all the tobacco control actors on the continent. The conference will run over four days from September 27 until 30.

Over the four days, there are three sub themes and nine research tracks that will be discussed. This covers tobacco control policy, tobacco use and surveillance. For more details on the tracks, click here.

“This conference is the first of a series of tobacco conferences that will take place in Africa every two years where tobacco control research will be showcased and discussed,” says CTCA Centre Manager Dr Jim Arinaitwe.


The conference will harmonize and promote the cross-learning and sharing of scientific research results  in Africa. It will provide an opportunity for researchers to present their original scientific and hands-on work from research done on Tobacco in Africa. This will help the continent match the rapidly evolving policy and maximize best practices and lessons critical to global, regional and national tobacco control responses.

It will be the main forum for tobacco control actors and advocates to raise the profile of tobacco response in Africa.

The conference is aimed to It will provide a platform for sharing of policy and implementation experiences and dissemination of research conducted in various African countries.

The Call for abstracts and posters is now open. submission deadline is May 31, 2021. Submission guidelines are available on the conference site: www.actd.africa