Kenya Urged To Use Tax Measures To Control Tobacco Consumption

Health campaigners on Thursday urged Kenya to use tax measures to control tobacco consumption.
 

Jim Arinaitwe, Center Manager at the Center for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA), told a media briefing in Nairobi that taxation measures have been found to be one of the most effective tobacco control strategies due to their potential to discourage initiation to tobacco use at an early age.
 

"Taxes can play a role in ensuring that tobacco is less affordable to consumers and thus discourage their use," Arinaitwe said.
 

He added that the best practice in effective tobacco tax policy implementation requires tax to account for at least 70 percent of retail price of tobacco products. "This will lead to increased tobacco price and increased quit rates," he noted.
 

CTCA noted low tobacco taxes should not be viewed as a pro-poor policy because it will lead to greater tobacco use amongst the poor who will end up bearing a disproportionate share of the health and economic burden of the product.
 

Kenya signed and ratified the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004 and domesticated it through the Tobacco Control Act, which requires the government to implement tax and price policies on tobacco and tobacco products that will reduce their consumption.
 

In Kenya, 2.5 million adults or 11.6 percent of the population currently use tobacco products, while 9.9 percent of youth between 13 to 15 years currently use tobacco products.
 

Arinaitwe said the tobacco industry has over the last 50 years repeatedly interfered with the development and implementation of tobacco control policies.
 

He noted that as much as possible tobacco tax and price measures should be protected against commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.