NGO urges parliamentarians to support tobacco control measures

Accra, Aug. 11, GNA - Mr Issah Ali, National Coordinator of Coalitio= n on Tobacco Control Bill, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has called on Parliamentarians from tobacco growing areas to support the tobacco control measures under the Public Health Bill before Parliament. He said by so doing, they would be seeking the interest of the health of their constituents, particularly tobacco farmers, babies, children, youth, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.

Mr Ali, who is also the Executive Director of Vision for Alternative Development (VALD), gave the advice at a public forum on Pictorial Health Warnings on Tobacco Packs at GNAT Hall in Accra on Tuesday. The forum was to share information and facts on the importance and relevance of mandating the printing of rotational pictorial health warnings on tobacco packs as part of the Tobacco Control Measures of the Public Health Bill 2011.

Mr Ali called for the creation and inclusion of a Tobacco Control Fund in the Bill to support tobacco farmers to adopt alternative livelihoods, adding that the Fund would be financed from fines, income from increased tobacco tax, grants and donations. He said the NGO had accepted the Bill and called for the improvement and inclusion of new provisions to comprehensively implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which Ghana ratified in November 29, 2004 and therefore government was obligated to implement.

Mr Ali said when the Bill is passed it would assist in the ban of smoking in public and work places, direct and indirect advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco and tobacco products, mandate the printing of health warnings on tobacco packs that currently covered less than 50 percent of the principal display areas. He expressed appreciation to individuals and organizations whose efforts had helped in pushing the Bill for its First Reading in Parliament and that more hard work and commitment was expected at its critical stage of deliberations. "The tobacco industry has engaged the services of an NGO to distract= us from pursuing strong Tobacco Control Measures of the Public Health Bill,"= he alleged and cautioned the NGO to respect the efforts being made to improve the health of Ghanaians. In a solidarity message, the World Health Organisation commended VALD for taking up the issue of pictorial health warnings which were envisaged t= o better communicate health risks, provoke a greater emotional response and increase the motivation of tobacco users to quit and decrease their tobacco intake. It also noted the efforts of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in implementing the guidelines of Article 11 of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in ensuring the enforcement of health warnings on sicknesse= s and sufferings on cigarette packs. The WHO said the pictorial health warnings helped to increase public awareness about the dangers of tobacco use and therefore parties involved i= n the Convention were mandated to implement colour pictures or pictograms in their packaging and labelling. "We do not have to re-invent the wheel; some very catchy pictorial warnings have been developed by some countries and we can adopt and adapt t= o these images for our country's situation."