Tobacco contributes to 3,330 deaths annually in Sierra Leone, according to the Quality Control Officer of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Reynold Senesi said that exposure to second – hand smoke caused 900 deaths annually.
He made this disclosure during a media engagement on Tobacco and Nicotine Act 2022, organized by Focus 1000 on Friday, August 19, 2022 at the Country Lodge in Freetown.
Sierra Leone is now the newest of 38 countries in the WHO African region to have enacted a bill into law to protect its population against the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine products. The Tobacco and Nicotine Control Act of 2022 was unanimously passed into law on August 3, 2022 by the country’s lawmakers.
FOCUS 1000 is a non-profit, national development agency in Sierra Leone that is committed to making the best investment in the most crucial time in a child’s life: the first 1000 days – the number of days from conception and pregnancy until the child reaches age two.
Senesi added that at least 4,000 children between the age of 10 – 14 years, and 955,000 adults use tobacco each day, a habit which he said causes 46 diseases in the human body.
He added that smoking generally is a dominant cause of heart disease, stroke, disease of blood vessels, incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiac deaths and respiratory infections.
Senesi pointed out that smoking also affects women during pregnancy, reduced quantity of breastmilk and also increases the chances of obesity, stunted growth and low birth weight of a newborn baby.
The Executive Director of Focus 1000, Alhaji Mohamed Jalloh said the reality of pushing the Tobacco and Nicotine Bill is to control its product, adding that bringing the bill into law was challenging, thus applauded those that contributed in the process.
He added that the intervention of Focus 1000 in the enactment process correspond with their aspiration to reduce maternal mortality, high infant mortality and protection of women and girls.
Jalloh said that since the bill had been enacted, state authorities, journalist, citizens and health experts must ensure that they enforce the provisions of the law and provide the necessary advice to patients.
By George M.O. Williams