In the last decade Kenya has made significant progress introducing laws and policies aimed at reducing the use of tobacco in the country.
Kenya’s Tobacco Control Act includes regulations around exposure to second-hand smoke, increases in tobacco tax, limitations on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and policies that encourage certain places to be 100% smoke free.
But one of the major challenges identified in Kenya is the poor implementation and enforcement of the these laws and policies, particularly since the country’s devolution to county governments.
Dr Joseph Mutai, a researcher at the Centre for Public Health Research Institute-Kenya Medical Research Institute, will be assessing how well prepared county government are to implement the tobacco control policies.
He will focus on three cities: Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu. In these cities, he will try to understand how county governments are implementing the National Tobacco Control Action Plan 2015.
Mutai will look at how county government prevent people from taking up tobacco smoking, cut down the number of people using tobacco by helping them with cessation services and treatment and how to protect non-smokers from the effects of second-hand smoke (SHS) by implementing smoke-free policies. Mutai will also try to understand how smokers have perceived and reacted to these no smoking policy in Kenya.
“Governance continues to be of primary importance to strengthening tobacco control policy, and coordination among different actors remains a pivotal component of good governance,” said Mutai in his proposal.
In essence, Mutai’s main research objectives will be to assess the cost-effectiveness of five tobacco control policies implemented in Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu counties in Kenya as well as to assess the effect of policies implemented between 2007 and 2019 from long-term trends in smoking rates.
It would evaluate the effectiveness of Tobacco Control policies and strategies in Kenya as adopted by the government in the National Tobacco Control Action Plan 2010-2015 and assess the factors influencing MOH guidelines Compliance and Health Seeking behaviour of tobacco smokers in Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu counties.