The Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, launches campaign against drug and tobacco abuse
Wilfred Enow Agbor
Yaounde, Cameroon
Cameroon Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, held a conference on national campaign against tobacco and drug abuse in Cameroon on the 4th of July, 2013 at Hotel Mont Febe. He was accompanied by the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the Secretary of States at the Ministry of Public Health, Alim Ayatou and the Director for the Promotion of Health, Doctor Saa. In support for the campaign, international representatives from African Control Tobacco Alliance, World Lung Foundation and World Health Organization (WHO) were also in attendance.
The purpose of this conference was to sensitize the population of Cameroon, so that they become aware of the mortality rate as result of tobacco and drug consumption. Tobacco consumption as well as illicit drug consumption constitutes a serious health problem among consumers. According to a report from WHO, one in every two persons who takes tobacco dies from a related illness – that is 50 percent of the world’s tobacco consumers die each year. Thirty eight percent die from tuberculosis, 32 percent die from cancer of the lungs, 20 percent die from respiratory problems and 21 percent die from heart failure.
In his speech at the conference, Fouda stated that tobacco consumption, including cigarettes smoking, kills 6 million people per year around the world. Among those deaths are 600,000 none-smokers who are also victims. Eighty percent of those deaths are in third world countries such as Cameroon, the Minister emphasized.
In Cameroon, 17.5 percent of the population or 3,500 000 persons are active consumers of tobacco. Seven million Cameroonians are exposed to tobacco either in public places or at their homes: 15 percent of youths less than 15 years of age are aware of cigarette smoking at schools; 44 percent of school children have experimented with tobacco consumption. Hence, in Cameroon there are 66, 000 deaths due to tobacco consumption every year. The Minister said that the rate of cigarette related deaths recorded yearly is far more than even that of HIV. This necessitated the Minister of Health in alliance with World Lung Foundation and African Control Tobacco Alliance to launch a campaign against tobacco consumption.
Drugs consumption, like tobacco, is also on the rise world wide. According to United Nations, there are 230 million illicit drug users around the world – that is 5 percent of the world’s population. In Cameroon, the Minister stated that 25 percent of Cameroonians have experimented with drugs and 10 percent are regular drug users.
With tobacco and drug use on the rise among Cameroonians, the Minister said the government is launching a campaign to prevent and stop drug and tobacco use. He called on everyone in the country to take responsibility in saving the population. He appealed to the media to join forces in the sensitization of the population. He thanked the World Lung Foundation and the African Control Tobacco Alliance for their financial and technical assistance in the campaign against tobacco and drug abuse across the country.
