Nairobi, Kenya 20th October 2023
By Clive Ayuko
When making his keynote address during the 3rd Edition of Harm Reduction Exchange 2023 meeting held at a Nairobi hotel on the 19th October 2023 Former President of the World Medical Association (WMA) Dr Kgosi Letlape is who is an ophthalmologist, President of the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and former chairman of the South Africa Medical Association had this to say on World Health Organization position on harm reduction polices geared towards mitigating the harmful effects of tobacco use;
” The Problem with Tobacco harm reduction gaining traction is as a result of Polices by the World Health Organization (WHO). When you look at the statements put out by the World Health Organization (WHO) on prevention of Non-communicable diseases one of the thing they outline is “Responsible Alcohol Use” but when it comes to tobacco use the policy is to abolish tobacco use as there is no responsible nicotine use, and that is where the problem is. The World Health Organizations position around use of tobacco is different and what this does it that it creates a different position in society. We know the harm associated with Alcohol but it is socially acceptable to the extent that when you go to a wedding they will even provide you with alcohol but nobody provides smokers with cigarettes because there is a bias and a social perception that has been created around smoking. So you have a hardened attitude against people who smoke”
He continued to add; “Most doctors don’t even recognise the symbol for Nicotine or the chemical formula for nicotine and that is the sum total of our education. We all know that the problem with tobacco is smoking and if you can take in the nicotine without having to combust it then you will reduce the harm associated with Nicotine or tobacco use. That is why in medicine we give patients nicotine replacement therapy.”
The World Health Organization however in a newsletter posted in its website maintains that all forms of tobacco use is harmful and as such there being no safe level of exposure to tobacco. A view Dr. Kgosi Letlape disagrees with arguing, ” there are studies which do confirm that Nicotine use through vaping for instance reduces the harmful effects associated with tobacco or nicotine use by upto 93 percent”
World Wide According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 8 million people die annually as a result of consequences of direct tobacco use with 1.3 million people succumbing as a result of getting exposed to second hand smoke emanating from people smoking close by. The number of people who dies globally from excessive consumption of alcohol is significantly lower with 3 million recorded deaths in 2020 as a result of harmful use of alcohol. Alcohol however is a causal factor for over 200 diseases, injury conditions and social related problems to include: High Blood pressure, Heart Diseases, Stroke, Liver Disease and various digestive problems. Alcohol uses also bear the risk of triggering various forms of cancer to include; Breast, mouth, throat, oesophagus, voice box, liver and rectum cancer in addition to being casualties to various tragedies to include motor vehicle accidents ( 1.35 million people die world wide from road carnage.)
Harm Reduction are policies, programmes and practices geared towards limiting the negative health, social and legal impacts resulting from abuse of drugs. As such harm reduction strategies include providing information on the negative effects of drug abuse on users. In Kenya some of this include warnings like, ” Cigarette Smoking is Harmful to ones Health By the Kenya Medical Association at the tail end of advertisements of cigarette brands, Use of gory pictures in Cigarette on symptoms associated with cigarette smoking in cigarette packets to deter people from use of tobbaco.
Other Harm Reduction policies include the creation of designated spots for cigarette smokers to protect the rest of the public from second hand smoke inhalation in city centres and installation of vehicles involved in road crashes along major highways do deter people from drink driving.
The whistling African 