Banjul, 03 November 2015 - The Gambia joins the international community to commemorate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2015 and as activities continue to mark this important event, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoH&SW) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) and other  partners on Thursday 8th October 2015 organized a community sensitization forum on the WHO call for higher tobacco taxes to save more lives. It was held at the village Bantaba in Sanyang in the West Coast Region of The Gambia.

The Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Hon. Omar Sey expressed government’s stance to “END ILLICIT TRADE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS”, as it recognizes health as a vital resource for socio-economic development and has always regarded health as its key priority, by investing heavily on infrastructure, service delivery and the requisite human resource capacity to steer the overall health delivery system.

Hon. Sey highlighted that illicit trade on tobacco products is a global problem and needs a global solution as it poses a serious threat to public health. He thanked the WHO for coming up with treaties and the WHO Frame Work Convention (WHO FCTC) which The Gambia is a signatory to address illicit tobacco trade. He also thanked the WHO Country Office for their financial support to commemorate this day.

He assured the gathering that the government will implement the protocol to the fullest with support and collaboration from GRA, Ministry of Trade, WHO Country Office, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of justice, Ministry of foreign Affairs and other partners.

The WHO Representative, Dr. Charles Sagoe-Moses extended greetings and gratitude from the entire WHO Secretariat to the people of Sanyang and the surrounding communities for hosting this important event. He highlighted that the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing around 6 million people a year, more than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Dr. Sagoe-Moses noted that eliminating illicit trade in tobacco will no doubt reduce the harmful consumption of tobacco by restricting availability of cheap, unregulated alternatives and increasing overall tobacco prices. It will also reduce premature deaths from tobacco use and raise tax revenue for governments.

He registered his appreciation to the Gambia’s efforts in tobacco control notably the Ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2007, putting a ban on smoking in public places as well as moving towards the finalization of a comprehensive tobacco control bill which are positive and commendable steps. He noted that WHO recognize the country’s steps taken so far towards ratification of the protocol on illicit trade in tobacco products.

He finally re-assured the Ministry of Health and its partners of WHO’s continued support in the fight against Tobacco.

The Secretary General (SG), Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. Yahya Sanyang expressed delight in being part of the commemoration especially at the time when government policy stance in the taxation of tobacco products and combating illicit trade in tobacco remains a priority in The Gambia.

He noted with concern that the Authority is fully aware of the associated risk of illicit trade on products with inelastic demand as taxes levied on them continue to rise to which GRA will continue to invest in its capacity to respond to such happenings. He appealed to the public to provide them with genuine lead information on any possible illicit trade activities in their communities, towns or regions so that together we can combat illicit trade in all its forms, not only tobacco products but all other products.

SG highlighted that GRA can proudly say today, as a revenue administration that the Gambia is considered a ‘best practice’ country in this region in the taxation of tobacco products. For this, GRA is grateful to the WHO for the partnership and technical support in the area of tobacco taxation. The Gambia Revenue Authority has been invited to many fora through the WHO to share its experience in the taxation of tobacco products both in the West and East African regions.

The event was marked by cultural dances, drama on Tobacco and was attended by the Deputy Governor of the Region, village chiefs, youths, religious leaders, senior government officials, members of the press and school children.

Prior to this event a press briefing was organized at the Conference Room of the Health Promotion Unit to sensitize media personnel on the WHO call for higher tobacco taxes to save more lives.

Mr. Gassama representing the WHO Representative at that forum emphasized the need to eliminate or reduce illicit trade in tobacco products so as to reduce tobacco consumption and called for an aggressive media campaign and encouraged media practitioners to raise public awareness on tobacco control. He indicated that what needs to be done to curb this illicit trade is to coordinate a multi-sectoral and whole-of-government approach towards:

• International collaboration
• strengthened tax administration to secure the supply chain
• increased intelligence and enforcement
• Swift and severe penalties
• Documentation of the extent of the problem in the countries

Expanding on the Tobacco use in the African Region, the NCD Director, Mr. Omar Badjie stated that member countries are now coming up with country actions to implement integrated programmes through strengthening of legal and institutional framework, development of appropriate technology, advocacy and public awareness as well as enforcing the law to the latter. This can only be achieved through collaboration and partnership, he remarked.

This was followed by questions and answers session. Other activities such as radio programmes are scheduled for later dates.

Senior staffs from both MoH&SW, WHO and other partners  attended the briefing and the media was widely represented.

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For more information, please contact:

Mr. Momodou Gassama, Health Promotion Officer, gassamam [at] gm.afro.who.int, (+220)- 4462286

Mr. George. Williams, Health Information Assistant,  williamsg [at] gm.afro.who.int, (+220) 4462284