Harm Reduction Should Guide Tobacco Regulations in Africa – Medical Experts

Stakeholders in the health sector have been challenged to consider harm reduction as a key guide in driving public health strategies in Africa.

Harm reduction refers to interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of health

behaviours without necessarily extinguishing the problematic health behaviours entirely or permanently.

Speaking during the third annual Harm Reduction Exchange themed: ‘Amplifying the voice of Harm Reduction advocacy across Africa’, the President of the African Medical Association and the Association of Medical Councils of Africa, Dr. Kgosi Letlape tasked African governments to adopt harm reduction approaches when regulating public health challenges.

Harm reduction, he said, is a more transformative strategy than prohibition-based policies and is better than simply advocating for complete abstinence, adding that harm reduction is a better approach to reducing tobacco-related death and disease.

“Harm reduction is a practical and transformative approach that incorporates community driven public health strategies including prevention, risk reduction, and health promotion to empower people who use drugs and their families with the choice to live healthy and self directed,” Dr. Letlape said.

He expressed the hope that lobbying efforts will spark renewed conversations on tobacco harm reduction among all stakeholders, including regulators and policymakers, which could lead to effective regulation and access to noncombustible product alternatives for adult smokers who are unable or uninterested in quitting.”

Across the world, he said, harm reduction strategies have been deployed in public health as a pragmatic and compassionate approach to address various issues, particularly in the context of substance use and other risky behaviors.

Some of these strategies, according to him, include Needle Exchange Programs, supervised injection sites, PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), Vaping and E-Cigarettes, and supervised consumption of medications.

In her remarks, Dr. Vivianne Manyeki noted that “organizations that practice harm reduction incorporate a spectrum of strategies that meet people where they are on their own terms and may serve as a pathway to additional health and social services, including prevention, treatment, and recovery services.”

On her part, Integra Africa Principal, Dr. Tendai Mhizha emphasized the role that journalists and media houses should play in handling misinformation and disinformation in tobacco harm reduction discussions.

She said “the media play a critical role in accelerating the progress towards full uptake of harm reduction strategies in all spheres of health across the continent, adding that with the advent of technology, misinformation and disinformation are becoming increasingly prevalent with the democratization of the information space.

Dr. Tendai said moving forward, “there is a need to ensure that stakeholders are well informed with current and relevant information about the science, the changes that occur and how we can advance towards a smoke-free world,”

Dr. Tendai who emphasised that raising awareness for tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a public health strategy encourages adult smokers who are unable or uninterested in quitting tobacco altogether to migrate to noncombustible product alternatives, noted that THR has the potential to bring about one of the greatest public health achievements of our time.

Also speaking at the event, the Public Health Specialist and Secretary General of Harm Reduction Society in Kenya, Dr. Michael Kariuki said “Harm reduction is the better path forward. With harm reduction, regulators provide adult smokers with information, choice and support to expand the off-ramp from smoking – while also continuing to drive down underage use.

According to him, “providing adult smokers with less harmful alternatives to cigarettes is a powerful step in achieving this goal”, he said.

It will be recalled that several African countries have already implemented THR policies and programs. These include South Africa that has legalized the sale of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products while Kenya has taken steps to regulate THR products and is considering legalising e-cigarettes.

As of 2020, no less than 86 countries had one or more programmes using a harm reduction approach to substance use.