The uptake of smoke-free nicotine products is improving across Africa although regional policy positions in some countries such as South Africa are holding back speedy impacts in harm reduction associated with tobacco products.
Companies such as British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International and others are moving away from combustible cigarettes and rolling out smoke-free nicotine products in markets such as South Africa. This comes as there are global efforts to reduce deaths related to tobacco use.
While it has become “extremely challenging to stop tobacco use,” the “use of newer products to encourage users to move away from combustion tobacco” is gaining traction across the African continent, said Mercy Korir, a Kenyan medical expert, told harm reduction experts in Nairobi yesterday.
However, there are regulatory hold-ups in regional countries such as South Africa. For example, Branislav Bibic, the vice president for Philip Morris International in Sub-Saharan Africa recently told Business Report that e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches should be regulated differently as they are gaining popularity on the South African market.
He added that South African consumers had caught up on the transition, a trend that had accelerated in the past three years “with more consumers switching to different categories of smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes” and heated tobacco.
“And now we expect to accelerate nicotine pouches to the South African consumers. Our focus is to transform our business and consumer behaviour in South Africa from smoking harmful cigarettes to less harmful products,” he said.
Although the company was gunning to push more new category products, it was also pushing for regulation that is specific to these products in South Africa.
“Regulation is a critical element of this process. We are advocating for smoke-free products to have specific regulation, not to be covered with same blanket used for old cigarettes,” said Bibic.
Korir explained that African governments have to “move on with the times”. South Africa’s Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill is yet to be signed into law but focuses on raising taxes on tobacco products, inhibiting advertising for the same products as well as retail displays.
Experts believe that this is not enough, with others suggesting that taxation from tobacco products should be funnelled towards tobacco harm reduction initiatives and programs. Still, all across Africa, harm reduction related to tobacco consumption remains fragmented.
“Harm reduction measures remain controversial and contested in many countries in Africa,” said Martin Agwogie, the executive director for the Global Initiative on Substance Abuse. “There is slow adoption of harm reduction policies in Africa.”
This despite the growing effects of “safer nicotine products in replacing combustion cigarettes”.
Gaps remain though, including a lack of key data that enables targeting of policies and programs. Policy makers were also said to lack proper information that experts regard as necessary in the formulation of policies.
Other countries such as UK, New Zealand, Greece and others were already adopting the differentiated regulatory approach. However, in South Africa, regulatory specifically for smoke-free nicotine products was still lagging.
“In South Africa, most smoke-free products are regulated as simple consumer products and we are advocating for specific regulation of smoke-free products; there should be a specific regulation which substantiates the benefits, the taxes and prevention of underage use of the products in a differentiated way,” said Bibic.
BUSINESS REPORT