Ibrahim Musa, Kano
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has revealed that effective tobacco control can reduce the prevalence of Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) by up to 80%.
This was disclosed by CISLAC Senior Program Officer, Mr. Solomon Adoga, during a tobacco taxation summit organized by the center for stakeholders from 5 northern states held in Kano.
According to him, recent findings have revealed that NCDs are currently the leading cause of death globally adding that these deaths are largely preventable by control of risk factors.
He explained that the use of tobacco products is the risk of greatest concern hence the need for effective tobacco control.
According to him considering other outstanding recommendations that are as well paramount to the implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015, there is a need to fast-track the process to ratify protocols involved to reduce or eliminate Illicit trade in tobacco products as well as adopt a tracking system to enhance revenue.
In his address, Bauchi State Commissioner of Housing and Environment, Danlami Ahmed Kawule, stated that there is a need to speed up the trend at which the issue of tobacco control is moving adding that there is also a strong need for the domestication of the act by states for effective control to save lives.
It was also revealed that there are over 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide and that the number would be even larger if tobacco didn’t kill half of its users.
