Health experts seek stronger policies to phase out tobacco use in Africa

Public health experts have called for stronger policies and innovative strategies to curb tobacco use in Africa.

The experts made the call on Thursday, during a panel session titled ‘Endgame Strategies to Phase Out Tobacco’, at the 2025 Gatefield Health Summit in Abuja on Thursday.

Chibuike Nwokorie, programme lead at the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance, said the public health community is working towards a future where tobacco use becomes virtually non-existent.

He said some countries are already setting examples, citing New Zealand’s policy which banned the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

“The endgame strategy for public health is talking about bringing policies together, strategies, to make sure that there will be a generation that will not have tobacco to buy,” he said.

Nwokorie, however, warned that the tobacco industry is pushing its own “deceptive” endgame agenda by phasing out traditional cigarettes and promoting newer products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine delivery systems.

Catherine Egbe, senior specialist at the South African Medical Research Council, described the tobacco endgame as “tobacco control plus”, a set of intensified strategies aimed at making tobacco history.

“It’s a set of strategies that countries are seeking to implement with the purpose of making tobacco history and for that history not to even repeat itself,” she said.

Egbe explained that while few countries have begun implementing endgame policies, global momentum is growing.

“The purpose is actually to bring tobacco to be so rare that you have less than 5 percent of people smoking. That’s the goal,” she said.

She added that possible approaches include reducing nicotine content in tobacco products to non-addictive levels, limiting product appeal, and state takeovers of tobacco companies.

Zinhle Ngcobo, a research psychologist with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, harped on the importance of protecting young people from nicotine addiction, especially as tobacco companies push new products like e-cigarettes and oral nicotine pouches.

“When I think about endgame strategies, I think about the creation of a future that is free of need and addiction free from tobacco use or its influence in our communities,” she said.

“If we could have those products regulated, it would give us more direction in actually getting to tobacco endgame.”

Britta Matthes, a research fellow at the University of Bath, said the tobacco industry persistently interferes in countries’ attempt to pass endgame policies.

She said despite publicly supporting smoke-free goals, tobacco companies have continued lobbying against strong regulations, including generational sales bans.

“We have basically seen the same strategies that we have seen before: legal threats, lobbying policymakers, and working with third parties,” Matthes noted.

She said the industry often seeks to weaken legislation by proposing alternatives like raising the smoking age rather than banning sales to future generations.