The consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, causes 62 deaths and 101.213 new cases of illness every day, implying losses of ₦630.072 million (equivalent to almost US$ 700 million) in the health system and the country's economy, as emerged from a modeling analysis led by IECS researchers. It was also calculated that the amount that the State collects from taxes on the sale of cigarettes represents only 6% of the total direct and indirect costs of consumption. See infographic here
"Our study makes it clear that smoking is not only harmful to health, but has an enormous economic implication that should drive countries to apply the different control measures proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO)," he said. the main author, the Dr. Andrés Pichon-Riviere, general director of the IECS, master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology from Harvard University, doctor in Public Health and principal investigator of CONICET.
The researchers projected what the 10-year benefit would be from the full implementation of four tobacco control measures suggested by the WHO and known as “MPOWER interventions”: 1) Increase taxes on cigarettes; 2) Implement a policy of smoke-free environments in closed spaces; 3) Apply flat packaging; 4) Prohibit the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products. And they estimated that, over 10 years, the full implementation of each of these measures could prevent, respectively, 45.957, 15.357, 11.746 and 8.732 deaths and 127.582, 42.632, 32.608 and 24.240 disease events.
The research was funded by a grant from the Cancer Research Institute of the United Kingdom (CRUK) and is part of a study led this year by the IECS and carried out by researchers from universities, research centers and public institutions in Nigeria, Bolivia , Honduras, Nigeria, Paraguay and Uruguay. And it is part of a line of research for tobacco control that the IECS began in 2005 and that generated studies and scientific publications on this topic in 12 Latin American countries, as well as in Nigeria and India.