The Gambia has a long history in Tobacco Control. In fact, the first law that prohibits smoking in public places known as the Public Smoking Act was enacted in 1998. This Act was not enforced till October 2010. Aside the Public Smoking Act, the Advertisement law that bans the advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of all tobacco products in the Gambia was passed in 2003. In June 2007, The Gambia ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and went further to issue a directive on packaging and labeling of all tobacco products that entered the Country, effective October 2010. But the three laws passed were limited and not fully compliant with FCTC provisions. These limitations necessitated the passage of a new Comprehensive law.
On the 20th of December 2016, the African Tobacco Control Community celebrated the enactment into law of the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) by the Gambian Parliament. In line with the rules of the country, the law should be assented by the President within 14 days after the passage. Unfortunately, the Gambia went through a very difficult situation after the law had been enacted and during that time the fate of the law was very uncertain. The TCA was however, effectively assented on 30 December 2016 by the former president.
This is a major step forward and a success for all the partners and stakeholders involved in tobacco control in The Gambia. Among the stakeholders, is the RAID (French acronym for African Network for Information and Action Against Drugs), one of the NGOs supported by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in the area of tobacco control across the continent. The RAID Gambia played a key role in advocacy and raising awareness on TC issues for the passage of the law. RAID has provided support to the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare and the Inter-ministerial Committee.
The TCA of The Gambia is one of the most comprehensive TC law passed in the Afro region. Provisions cover the following:
- The setting up of a TC committee;
- Tobacco Smoke-free environment;
- Comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
- Tobacco products packaging and labelling;
- Restriction on the sale, supply and use of tobacco products including prohibition of supply of tobacco products to and by minors;
- Regulation of tobacco products content and emissions disclosures;
- Protection of public health policies from commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry;
- Provisions for enforcement.
Tobacco use is still on the increase in The Gambia especially among the youth as assessed by the World Health Organization. Tobacco is a risk factor or several non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, heart diseases, high blood pressures and chest infections. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 2008 indicated 24.5% prevalence of tobacco use among young people aged 13 – 15 years, with insignificant difference between boys and girls that have ever used tobacco (28.6% for Boys and 20.3% for Girls).
A national population-based survey, the STEPS Survey (2010) indicated that, overall, 16.3% of the adult population aged 24 – 64 years reported are users of tobacco, and about 15% of these are daily users. Prevalence of daily tobacco use was reported to have been higher among men (29.4%) than in women (1.9%). When compared by age group, daily tobacco use is also higher among men of all age groups than women but highest among 25-34 and 35-44 years for men, being 31.0% and 31.1% respectively.
Now that the TCA is effective, stakeholders’ work should now focus on implementation. As a major partner ACBF will continue to give its support to The Gambia through RAID for the successful implementation of the TCA. Support to the RAID Gambia will also be leveraged through network from other ACBF funded projects .i.e. through experience sharing.
The effective implementation of the TCA will help surely to reduce the burden of tobacco use and its related diseases so that the next STEPS Survey will demonstrate reduction in prevalence of tobacco use in the country.
