PRESS RELEASE
KAMPALA, Uganda, June 26, 2020/ — The Center for Tobacco Control in Africa notes with concern the cash boost from tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International to the Zambian government in support of the country’s fight against COVID-19.
Media reports this week surfaced showing that the multinational tobacco company donated USD150 000 in COVID-19 preventative materials to 60 schools and 35 clinics in Eastern Province in Zambia. To date Zambia has recorded 2712 COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths, contributing to more than 300 000 COVID-19 cases and more than 8700 deaths on the continent.
As the Zambian government attempts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease, the center wants to caution the government against taking funding from the tobacco industry as it contravenes provisions in the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The convention is a global health treaty that guides signatory countries on how to implement evidence-based tobacco control policies that protect the health of citizens. According to the treaty, governments refrain from engaging with the tobacco industry, recognizing that it undermines their credibility to protect the health of their citizens. Zambia became a signatory of the treaty in 2008 and therefore has an obligation to refrain from engaging with the tobacco industry.
CTCA Center Manager Dr Jim Arinaitwe said: “Governments need to be cautious and resist taking offers from the tobacco industry. They have an obligation to put the health of their citizens first. By taking donations from tobacco companies they are not protecting their citizens from the dangers of tobacco, they are encouraging an association with the product.”
“Corporate social responsibility efforts by the tobacco industry to sponsor COVID-19 must still be seen as tactics to boost their image and to promote the industry as one that cares for citizens, despite decades of evidence that shows how harmful and deadly tobacco really is,” said Arinaitwe.
“We cannot accept money by the tobacco industry in this regard. It should be seen as a mechanism of tobacco industry interference, identified across the world as tools they use to get governments to water down or scrap tobacco control policies” Arinaitwe added.
For more info, contact Candice Bailey baileyc@ctc-africa.org or +27 83 318 8613 (Call |Text |WhatsApp)