Smoking: Is health minister at home?

The last time Australia, for instance, informed its citizens what their health risks were like was July 2012. The health officials also compared the health of their citizens to those of other nations; they didn’t compare themselves to themselves and beat their chests. They looked for nations that were serious, and they placed Australian side […]

The last time Australia, for instance, informed its citizens what their health risks were like was July 2012. The health officials also compared the health of their citizens to those of other nations; they didn’t compare themselves to themselves and beat their chests. They looked for nations that were serious, and they placed Australian side by side. Australia’s health generally compares well internationally. Our life expectancy is among the highest in the world, and our infant mortality rate is among the lowest. That was how Australia’s health officials started out. Officials anywhere would begin on a positive note. But they have something to start with, because they have been doing the jobs they are paid to do. Then they gave more details. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that heart disease, stroke, cancer and other non-communicable diseases pose a looming health burden. Australians are major contributors. Internal and external conditions influence this. Australia’s external health risk factors that include access to clean water and sanitation are low, but internal health risk factors such as body weight or tobacco smoking needed to be modified in order to improve health, Australian health officials further stated. That goes to show how central tobacco smoking has always been as a health risk.

The World Health Organization estimates that almost six million people die every year from smoking-related causes, both from direct tobacco use and second-hand smoke. Tobacco use not only reduces life expectancy but also quality of life, with many smoking-related conditions resulting disabling health problems. The WHO has reported that daily tobacco smoking rates are highest in the European and Western Pacific Regions. The body projects that, without action, by 2030 the number of smoking-related deaths will rise to eight million.  In response to this, it created the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), with the intention of significantly improving health and reducing the social costs caused by, and the inequality exacerbated by, tobacco in all its forms. Currently, 174 parties have adopted the treaty and, under international law, must perform all obligations contained in the Convention.  The obligations range from ensuring access to public awareness programs outlining the health risks of consumption and exposure to tobacco, to incorporating bans on smoking in work and public places. In addition, WHO has developed a number of strategies to guide policy-makers around the world to create effective strategies to address the public health problems caused by these health risk factors.

Now this is all about one major health issue, smoking, others are yet to be touched. Nigerians know that, like every other sector in the country, health suffers a common problem. Now, the question may be asked: When was the last time health officials in Nigeria woke up and informed citizens about the state of their health? It is not unlikely that someone issues printing contract, lists some figures that can only be a fiction of his imagination, shares copies among few government officials that can ask him to balance accounts, and send the rest to the store, while he claims that he releases quarterly report on the nation’s state of health. But in saner environments, release of such state of health report by health officials generates a buzz across the land. It spurs discussions, and generates ideas on the way forwards with regards to specific issues. As things stand here, the entire health sector suffers from a myriad of problems.  Nothing synergized in the way of combating health challenges. No known collaboration among ministries, departments and agencies that have a role to play in combating some of the more rampaging ones to which the younger generation are more susceptible such as smoking. Mention lack of political will, add unwillingness to turn the cart over by those at the top of health sector hierarchy, inefficient application of funds, a dilapidating health system, and you see right why the nation’s health sector suffers. One can see why the battle against smoking has not been won so far.

When a major global player in the manufacture of tobacco products occupied land near the Ibadan end of the old Lagos-Ibadan toll plaza in the early parts of 2000, and called attention to its ultra modern plants, the then president had clapped for the modern production plants, the jobs created. Many young men who were employed gladly travelled abroad for further training, praising their luck that they got fantastic jobs. The same president was in the Eastern part of the nation too where an alcohol making company was opening its modern plants, the largest in Africa.  These are companies that are increasingly finding it difficult to operate in advanced countries, but the government celebrates them here. And of the measures that should discourage the citizen from harming themselves, they are not willing to sit up and implement. There is only one message to pass on in this piece. Serious nations pay close attention to the health of their citizens. They release regular information on the state of the health of the nation, and do everything possible to save citizens from themselves; administering the health sector is not all about presenting bills, signing policy documents, or awarding contracts, Nigeria needs to rise and do the same things other nations do about the health of their people.

Tunji  Ajibade wrote in from Abuja. [email protected]