The tobacco plant has been in existence for millennia with the first known use being in the Americas. The plant was then introduced to Europeans who where it became an addictive lucrative and heavily traded commodity. It was during this time that the plant was introduced to Africa and the rest we can say is history.
Growing up in the eighty’s cigarette smoking was the norm with people smoking anywhere and everywhere. During this time, people had not really realized the connection between cigarette smoking and cancer. As such, cigarette smoking was often seen as a preserve of the cool kids something which fueled the uptake of the vice. Needless to say, there was a spike in lung cancer cases as well as other diseases such as heart disease, stroke, vision problems, and gum disease.
At the time, things go so bad to a point where the government had to get involved in ensuring that there was a reduction in the number of people smoking cigarettes. This saw the government become a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on February 27, 2005. The ban in public smoking was implemented in June 2006, this meant that smoking became allowed only in designated smoking areas. With those smoking in offices bus stations and sports venues receiving a Ksh. 50,000 fine or six months in prison.
Other than the ban on public smoking, cigarette manufacturers were also meant to print warning on the packets. Since then, I have to say that there has been a marked reduction in the number of cigarette smokers in the country as people started realizing just how harmful the practice was.
To show you just how deadly cigarette smoking is, statistics from the World Health Organisation indicate that there over 8 million deaths per year as a result of tobacco usage. Essentially, tobacco usage kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV and malaria combined.
In Kenya, data from the Ministry of Health indicates that there are 2.3 million tobacco users who are aged between 15-65 years of age. With statistics indicating that more than 8,000 people die of tobacco related ailments, with tobacco use being singled out as the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country. Case in point, in the Nandi community where they use a liquid nasal snuff, there is a higher incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer compared to others.
With all the negative effects of cigarette and generally nicotine, one would think that people would be wary of using them. However, just like any other drug nicotine which is found cigarettes can be very addictive with those who have become serial smokers finding it hard to kick the habit. Hence a need for innovative ways to assist these people to use less harmful ways of consuming nicotine which generally would not harm their health.
As a response to this, the Harm Reduction Society of Kenya held a Harm Reduction Exchange where the various innovative ways of reducing the harm of using tobacco were discussed. Harm reduction essentially uses science led regulations to enable smokers transition from the more harmful traditional cigarettes to the less-riskier alternatives, which will can help them to quit smoking.
Some of the less harmful means that were proposed in the forum includes.
e-cigarettes
These are popularly known as vapes and are essentially electronic devices that heat a liquid (vape juice, e-liquid, e-juice) to produce a vapor that looks a lot like smoke, which users inhale. Many of these liquids come flavored in fruit, mint, menthol, candy, and other flavors.
Nicotine Pouches
Nicotine pouches are small, rectangular pouches filled with powdered nicotine, preservatives and other fillers (for flavor). The pouches don’t include tobacco leaves, so they aren’t considered to be carcinogens (cancer-causing). They’re sold in varying strengths but typically have a high concentration of nicotine. In the Kenyan market, we have the Velo nicotine pouch.
Nicotine Gums
Nicotine gum is a chewing gum containing the active ingredient nicotine polacrilex. It is essentially a type of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) used alone or in combination with other pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation and for quitting smokeless tobacco.
One of the countries which has successfully these adopted these tobacco harm reduction techniques is Sweden. This has led to Sweden reaching a near smoke free status with smoking prevalence dropping to just 5.3% across the general population. This is a 65 percent decrease in smoking rates from 2008 to 2024, they are also experiencing the lowest lung cancer mortality rates. This is quite remarkable, and it goes to show how effective the tobacco harm reduction methods are.
Following the success of THR techniques in countries like Sweden, one can only hope that the powers that be will find it prudent to amend the law in order to include this science led methods in a bid to reduce the harm caused by tobacco.