Author: Hana Ross, Ph D, Research Unit on the Economics Excisable Products, University of Cape Town
Background
• Africa is vulnerable to the tobacco industry: While global smoking rates have dropped by more than 10% since 2000, tobacco consumption is climbing in Africa.
• The WHO estimates that the number of tobacco-attributable deaths on the continent will double by 2030.
• While increasing the price of tobacco products is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to prevent tobacco use and promote cessation, cigarettes are becoming more affordable across West Africa between 2008 and 2018.