Should State use sin tax cash to fund anti-smoking campaigns?

A man smokes a cigarette. Potential cigarette addicts often disregard the amount of educative materials, including labels on packets. PHOTO | FILE |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By EDWARD OMETE

In Summary

• A casual look at entertainment and recreation venues indicates that more youths, especially in the lower socio-economic group, are picking up the habit.

There has been some wrangling between the tobacco industry and lawmakers with regards to the government’s directive on the labelling of cigarette packets with warning messages.

The cigarette manufacturers feel the proposals have gone too far while the government feels it has been too lax in the past. Statistics on cigarette smoking have given health authorities reason to initiate such steps.

The bone of contention with their approach however is whether such measures will achieve expected outcomes or will just use up the manufacturers’ funds while achieving little results.

The first question is how someone gets addicted to smoking and whether smokers pay attention to labelling and packaging instructions.

One group says that potential cigarette addicts often disregard the amount of educative material including labels on packets. In one series of educative material passengers who flew in an airplane were asked questions, on disembarking, on the safety instructions offered by the cabin crew.

The results were disappointing, more than 70 per cent did not recall half of the content.

The assumption from this study is that either the material wasn’t well packaged or it was offered at the wrong time when the passengers had their minds switched off.

Back to cigarette smoking labelling. A casual look at entertainment and recreation venues indicates that more youths, especially in the lower socio-economic group, are picking up the habit.

Worse still many are unable to stop the habit and are also unlikely to have a healthcare financing plan. This is the group that should be targeted.

To begin with, the manner in which warnings on cigarette packs are presented should be evaluated.

Initiative won’t work

Of importance also is the budget allocation to programme. A colleague notes that for every shilling the government spends on “educating” the public on dangers of smoking, cigarette manufacturers spend five times more. It is unlikely therefore that the government’s initiatives will work.

Two rarely used approaches but which could be quite successful involve using positive role models.

The ENT (ear, nose and throat) ward at Kenyatta National Hospital has many patients who could tap into their experiences on smoking to caution those starting on the habit. Health insurers too need to join the fight against tobacco use. For every smoker a non-smoker somewhere is also affected through passive smoking.

As we transition to a middle income economy, it is easy to see one of the big drains on insurers’ funds.