Progress, Gaps, and Tobacco Industry Opposition to Tobacco Advertising, Promotion, and Sponsorship Bans in the World Health Organization African Region.

Abstract

Although the African Region (AFRO) has the lowest smoking prevalence by World Health Organization region, the prevalence rate is expected to grow from 15.8% in 2010 to 21.9% in 2030 based on 2010 levels, the largest projected increase in the world.1 A key reason for this upsurge is that tobacco companies aggressively market in AFRO to recruit new tobacco users, especially youth.2 To combat this, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)’s Article 13 and its Guidelines ­recommend prohibiting all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS).3 While there is robust literature on tobacco industry marketing in Africa,4 there is scarce research to date assessing TAPS, including only one 2011 regional analysis of TAPS policies in AFRO.5 Given these gaps and the lack of TAPS implementation data available, the goal of this review was to assess the progress of TAPS policies adopted and to discuss efforts to overcome barriers to pass and implement TAPS bans in AFRO.