• Tobacco remains the main cause of premature deaths and disability
• Tobacco-related health expenditures cost the Zambian economy K2.8 Billion annually.
• Enacting Tobacco Control Bill into law is important because it is set to protect citizens from the devastating health consequences.

Tobacco use is one of the world’s leading preventable causes of death and is a major preventable risk factor of non-communicable diseases like cancer, lung and heart diseases.
Second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke has been linked to several health outcomes such as respiratory infections, lung cancer and asthma.
Globally, about a third of the population is exposed to the harmful effects of smoking resulting in over 600,000 deaths every year.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the tobacco smoking epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced killing more than 7 million people.
Zambia is party to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) and made an undertaking to come up with a domestic comprehensive tobacco control law.
Research indicates that in Zambia, approximately over 7,000 people die each year from tobacco related illnesses, of which 60% of those deaths occur before the age of 70.
WHO statistics show that in the absence of a tobacco control legislation, Zambia will continue losing around 8,000 lives annually due to tobacco consumption.
As such, implementing laws that prohibit smoking in public is necessary to minimize or completely eradicate exposure of citizens to the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke.
Studies conducted on a select few western countries and compiled by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that smoke free laws that prohibit smoking in public places like bars and restaurants help improve the health of workers and the general population.
Some of these improvements in health outcomes, such as reductions in hospital admissions for respiratory and/ or heart disease have been noted soon after implementation of the legislation or policies.
Zambia has enacted such laws with the primary statute being the Public Health Act, Chapter 295 of the Laws of Zambia. This is in addition to ratifying several international treatises such as the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) is one of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) championing tobacco control in Zambia, and it noted that implementation of the laws has however remained below par as restaurants and bars in particular, continue to be noncompliant.
A study recently conducted by CTPD to assess the levels of compliance, revealed that a total of 9 of the 15 establishments did not allow cigarette smoking in the indoor areas but allowed cigarette smoking in quasi-outdoor public areas designated for cigarette smokers.
“What was observed, however, was that these quasi-outdoor smoking areas still caused considerable pollution and exposure to second-hand smoking to members of the public or other patrons. It was further observed that 4 of the 15 had no smoking prohibitions at all, whilst 2 restaurants neither permitted smoking on its premises nor had any provision for a designated smoking area,” CTPD observed.
CTPD is therefore advocating for measures and reforms to enhance the implementation and enforcement of these smoke-free laws in Zambia.
It has been noted that tobacco-related health expenditures cost the Zambian economy K2.8 Billion annually, equivalent to 1.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
It is this vain that Tobacco Free Association of Zambia has been calling for the increase in excise taxes on tobacco products as an effective measure to reduce tobacco use and generate government revenue for national development priorities.
Association Executive Director Brenda Chitindi is of the view that revenue from tobacco taxes can be directed towards bolstering the budgets of the Ministry of Health, National Cancer Hospital, National Heart Hospital and high referral specialist teaching hospitals, which currently operate with minimal funding.
“Compared to other consumer products, tobacco products in Zambia remain highly affordable. Implementing a specific excise tax structure that incorporates annual adjustments for inflation and income growth developments as recommended under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 6 guidelines, will generate large health and economic gain for Zambia,” Ms. Chitindi said in a statement.
The 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, supported by United Nations Member States, recognizes price and tax measures on tobacco as an important and underutilized revenue resource to finance national development efforts.
According to Ms. Chitindi, streamlining the tax system to be uniform across all tobacco products, including the removal of current incentives for locally-produced cigarettes, will further enhance the advantages of excise tax increases.
On the other side, Zambia Media Network Against Tobacco (ZAMNAT) wants government to accelerate the process of domesticating laws to control tobacco consumption in the country.
ZAMNAT Chairperson Paxina Phiri feels it is important for the public to be made aware that tobacco remains the main cause of premature deaths and disability because the nicotine and tar in cigarette seriously damages the lungs, weakens other body parts, and reduces the lifespan.
“Zambia’s ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2008 meant that the country was supposed to domesticate laws after five years that were going to help control tobacco use in the country,” he stated.
Through the Ministry of Health, past governments and various stakeholders have been discussing the enactment into law of the Tobacco Control Bill.
And on 31st January 2023, Zambia’s Cabinet approved in principle the Tobacco Control Bill to be debated in Parliament, a move commended by Centre for Primary Care Research Zambia, Executive Director Professor Fatson Goma, who is optimistic that once the bill is enacted into Law, it will help reduce the use and abuse of tobacco in the country.
But despite assurances by Ministry of Health that the bill will be tabled in Parliament, nothing much has been done to finalize the piece of legislation.
Regardless of these health concerns, Tobacco producers like Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has been investing US$8 million every year in production of the crop in Eastern and Western Provinces of Zambia and during the 2022 /2023 farming season, the company produced 2, 600 metric tonnes of tobacco, out of the targeted, 4,900 metric tonnes for the year.
Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is one of the fastest growing tobacco companies in Zambia, and is working with 7,000 small scale farmers to produce two types of tobacco, namely burley, grown in the Eastern province and flue cured Virginia, grown in Western province.
The poor crop harvest during the period under review was attributed to unfavorable weather conditions resulting from climate change. In the 2023/2024 farming season, the firm is projecting to produce 5, 900 metric tonnes of tobacco.
Speaking to journalists during a recent joint media tour in Chipata on tobacco awareness, JTI Leaf Zambia Site Operations Manager Dr. Ezekiel Mtonga revealed that the firm has since contracted 2, 500 small scale tobacco farmers in the province for the 2022/2023 season.
Dr. Mtonga revealed that JTI is this year buying the crop at US$2 and US$3 per kilogram, depending on quality of the product.
“Farmers are always provided with all the required inputs and given a minimum of one hectare to ensure that they produce quality tobacco which they later sale to JTI during the crop marketing season which starts in mid-April,” he said.
Meanwhile, some farmers spoken to said growing tobacco has proved to be sustainable source of livelihood as they were able to fend for their families through this business.
The farmers, who declined to be named, expressed satisfaction with this year’s tobacco prices being offered by JTI which they said were much better than the previous years.
WHO estimates indicate that Zambia is among the top five tobacco leaf growing countries in Africa and accounted for 9.7% of tobacco leaf production in Africa in 2012.
Consecutive Zambian National Development Plans have emphasized the importance of tobacco production to the Zambian economy.
Enacting the Tobacco Control Bill into law is important because it is set to protect citizens from the devastating health, social, environmental, and economic consequences of tobacco consumption.
Therefore, without tobacco control legislation in place, government will continue losing colossal sums of revenue in treating tobacco-related diseases every year.