When tobacco industries are damaging Pakistan's healthcare system

THE Pakistan, a middle-income country, has a precarious health system and is not able to cope with the current Covid19 pandemic. Beyond its economy, however, another reason contributes to aggravating the lack of resources for its health system: the burden of pathologies attributable to tobacco and the practices in force of this industry in the country. Each year, 160,000 people die from tobacco-induced diseases. Tobacco use continues to grow in the country due to a lack of awareness of its dangers, low prices, aggressive marketing operations by the tobacco industry and steady population growth. The country is also faced with an organization of parallel tobacco trade, through underreporting of production by manufacturers and smuggling of products. The problem of illicit tobacco trade in the country is not new. In 2018, the country ratified the protocol to combat tobacco smuggling called Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade tobacco products, which is linked to the WHO Framework Convention and requires governments to establish tracking and tracing systems to monitor the supply chain from manufacturing to retail. An effective tracking and tracing system would require the world's largest tobacco companies, including Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, to be transparent about how many cigarettes they manufacture and what taxes they owe. But the tobacco industry was a party to the tender process, which is now being challenged in court. However, as it stands, Pakistani tax authorities awarded the contract to a Pakistani military company working with Swiss software provider Inexto[1]-[2], the latter representing the interests of tobacco manufacturers. This example is an illustration of how tobacco manufacturers interfere in public policies to preserve their interests and the disastrous consequences that follow for the population.

To find out more and read the CNCT article on this subject

  ©Generation Without Tobacco

---

[1] https://cnct.fr/actualites/contrebande-codentify-cigarettiers/ [2] https://cnct.fr/actualites/lindustrie-tabac-sape-commerce-illicite/ ©National Committee Against Smoking |