South Africa's tobacco control successes

Tobacco control policies in South Africa have resulted in a significant reduction in smoking in the country.^[1]The prevalence of smoking in the country thus increased from 33 to 20% between 1993 and 2010. However, South Africa was the continent's main market for cigarette consumption in the early 1990s.

It is thanks to a series of measures taken during the following decades that smoking has been significantly reduced. These measures are structured around four axes: the gradual extension of the smoking ban, the regulation of tobacco marketing, the introduction of warnings on packets and finally a policy of taxation of tobacco products.^[2]These measures respond to the different pillars of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which South Africa is a signatory.

In this, South Africa is a pioneer in the fight against tobacco on the continent. In most other African countries, the tobacco industry flourishes on the continent because of weak legal regulation of tobacco products and insufficient taxation policies.^[3]Despite the effectiveness of South Africa's public policies to combat tobacco, they are nevertheless less restrictive than most of the measures in place in northern countries.

©Tobacco Free Generation