October 2016 - The two winners from the Gambia of the prestigious World No-Tobacco Award for 2016 - Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Hon. Omar Sey and the Multi-sectoral Working Group for Tobacco Control – were recently presented with their Awards at a colorful ceremony held at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Headquarters in Banjul.

Presenting the Awards on behalf of the WHO Regional Director for Africa and the WHO Director-General, the WHO Representative, Dr Charles SAGOE-MOSES congratulated the two winners on this laudable achievement but urged them to do more as the battle against tobacco is not yet over. “Tobacco use is still more prevalent among young people in developing nations and is responsible for about 6 million deaths globally each year. WHO’s estimates for the Gambia show that tobacco use is responsible for about 5% of all deaths due to non – communicable diseases, making it all the more worrisome for a country where about 31.3% of adult males aged 25-64 years of age consume tobacco”, Dr SAGOE-MOSES remarked.

He said that, overall, the two winners were recognized for their outstanding contributions to tobacco control in the Gambia. But on individual terms, he said, on the one hand, the Honorable Minister was honoured for demonstrating strong leadership, advocacy and commitment in support of tobacco control in the Gambia, which paved the way for the development of the first ever draft comprehensive tobacco control bill and the development and launching of clinical guidelines for tobacco cessation.
On the other hand, the Multi-sectoral Working Group, comprising of over thirty representatives from the various Government Ministries, civil society organizations and the United Nations System, was also recognized as a vibrant multi-sectoral platform coordinating national tobacco control efforts and for its contributions to the successful implementation by the Gambia of a three-year tobacco taxation policy (2013-2015), which has yielded extra revenue for Government and also reduced the volume of tobacco imports into the Gambia. Each of the recipients received a medal and a certificate

Dr. Sagoe-Moses also used the occasion to laud the Gambia for implementing a range of successful tobacco control initiatives which include policy formulation and implementation, taxation, legislation, public awareness, surveillance and multi-sectoral action but appealed to the Honorable Minister to lend his support in expediting the ratification of the draft tobacco control bill.

In receiving the Award, Honourable Omar Sey thanked WHO for recognizing his personal efforts and that of the Multi-sectoral Working Group in championing tobacco control in the Gambia. He described the Award as a challenge for him to do more especially in ensuring that the draft tobacco control bill is ratified sooner than later. He said that all the necessary preparations have been put in place and he is confident that the Bill will be ratified soon. He also spoke of the Gambia’s readiness to implement “Plain Pack-aging”, as advocated for this year’s World No-Tobacco Day

Mr. Sambujang Conteh, Director of a local NGO (RAID-Gambia), former winner of the Award in 2004, reiterated his organization’s commitment to supplementing Government’s efforts in controlling tobacco use in the Gambia.

It will be worth noting that the Gambia had won this Award seven times since the year 2000. Winners included the media, civil society organizations, schools and individuals. But this year’s event was unique as it was the first time the Gambia won two Awards in a single event. The country alone bagged two out of the five Awards dedicated to the African Region for 2016. The other winners were from Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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For more details, 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