Dear Mr James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary for Health,
Dear Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Africa,
Colleagues and friends,
It is a great honour for me to attend the meeting of The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Ten years of Implementation in the African Region. First of all, I would like to thank the Government of Kenya and the WHO Regional Office for Africa for the kind invitation to the Convention Secretariat and the opportunity for celebrating together the ten years of implementation of the WHO FCTC in the African Region. The Convention Secretariat attached great importance to this event.
Therefore I cancelled my long time previous commitment of this week and came to join you at least for the first day of the meeting. I have to go back tomorrow in order to be present in the global celebration of the 10th anniversary of the WHO FCTC in Geneva on 27 February 2015.
It is of historical importance that we start the celebration in Africa.
Dr Moeti, let me take this opportunity to warmly congratulate you for your appointment as the new Regional Director. Your personal attendance of this meeting itself shows your leadership and commitment. We wish you all success..
Dr Moeti, as you rightly pointed out in the 136th Executive Board in your acceptance speech: “The African Region played a leading role in the negotiation of the global tobacco treaty and now we aim to build on this, focused on prevention and avert the looming NCD epidemic”. Member States of this region indeed took the lead in the negotiation of the WHO FCTC and made sure we have a strong treaty today. I was the Director of Tobacco Free Initiative at that time. I was deeply touched by the political commitment and determination of delegates of this Region during the whole negotiation.
Let us take this opportunity to welcome two new Parties of this region- Ethiopia and Zimbabwe as well. We hope the remaining Member States of this Region will soon join the Convention. Full membership of all Member States joining the Convention will give strength in promoting the implementation of the Convention in this Region.
Today we are in the process of making the second treaty-the Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products into legally binding international law. 12 Parties of this Region has signed the Protocol, making 22% of the total 54 signatories globally. Among them, Gabon has become a Party to the Protocol. Your leadership is much needed in order to reach to the 40 Parties needed to make it international law. Globally one in every 10 cigarettes and many other tobacco products are illegal. So much has been invested in the negotiation of the Protocol. We need to keep the momentum. Depositing approval /acceptance/ accession/ ratification instruments is the crucial step that countries must take in order to become Parties to the Protocol. I urge all Parties of the Convention in this Region to raise awareness of the Protocol and become Parties to it as soon as possible. We can also use the opportunity of this year’s World No Tobacco Day to further promote ratification of the Protocol.
The African Region set up examples in implementation of the WHO FCTC. More and more countries have established successful multilateral coordination mechanism and developed national strategies and action plans to implement the Convention. National tobacco control legislations have been adopted or amended in line with the provisions of the Convention and the recommendations in the guidelines. Some Parties have taken the lead in integrating the implementation of Article 5.3 in national tobacco control legislation (for example, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia) and developing national guidelines on Article 5.3.
Mauritius (65% in average, 60% in front and 70% in the back), Madagascar, Seychelles and Namibia have implemented pictorial health warnings. In line with Article 26.2 of the Convention, countries are also helping each other in this effort. The Convention Secretariat can help you in this process of getting permission from other countries. Furthermore, we have developed and completed a set of 44 pictorial health warnings for Africa. The Convention Secretariat owns the copy right and is able to give countries permission to use for free. We encourage more counties to use them and better educate the public about the danger of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. This works especially for the children, the poor and illiterate population.
National best experiences from Mauritius in implementing Article 11, South Africa and Seychelles in implementing Article 8 and Kenya in implementing Article 13 has been published by the Convention Secretariat to promote exchange of information and expertise in the Region as a follow-up project after the 2012 regional FCTC implementation workshop held in Dakar, Senegal organized jointly by the Convention Secretariat, the Regional Office and the Government of Senegal.
In order to support developing country Parties to better implement the Convention, the Conference of the Parties requested developing countries to conduct needs assessments with the support from the Convention Secretariat and WHO. Globally we have conducted 32 such joint exercises. In African Region alone, we conducted 12 missions together with the WHO Regional Office for Africa in Lesotho, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Botswana Sierra Leone, Burundi, Mauritius, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Congo and Togo. Post needs assessment assistance have been provided in most countries who conducted needs assessments, with ongoing projects in several countries.
Remarkable progress has been made in these countries after the needs assessments. I would like to give you three examples. Gabon allocated fund to establish a tobacco control programme with a team and its own office place shortly after the mission. Gambia increased tobacco taxation and also managed to mobilize resources from the Gates Foundations. Senegal adopted its first ever tobacco control legislation in March 2014.
Africa is our top priority for providing strong technical support in implementation of the Convention and promoting the entry into force of the Protocol. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of challenges ahead of us as well. We should be more vigilant with the interference from tobacco industry to counteract, delay or dilute measures to implement the Convention. The growth in the use of new products and the existing products in new settings is alarming. Actions are needed to prevent these new products from spreading further.
The Convention Secretariat is committed to work hands in hands with the WHO Regional Office for Africa under the able leadership of Dr Moeti to support the Parties in the Region to fully implement the Convention. Our joint efforts will help Parties to develop a healthier population on this continent. Happy 10th anniversary of the WHO FCTC to everyone. Let us celebrate together the success of a decade of saving lives.
I thank you for your kind attention.