ah@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n<\/u>13 March 2025 | 14:00 CAT
\n2 min read<\/p>\nThe tobacco industry is aggressively marketing e-cigarettes and nicotine products to Africa\u2019s youth, exploiting regulatory gaps and framing them as so-called safer alternatives. Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, head of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University of Pretoria, warns that this strategy poses a significant public health risk across the continent.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Radio Islam, Prof Ayo-Yusuf explained that Africa’s youth have become a prime target for the tobacco industry due to demographic trends. \u201cIt\u2019s a business model. Smoking usually starts when people are young. You hardly find old people starting to smoke,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While youth populations in Europe and Latin America have plateaued or declined, Africa is projected to have around 400 million young people aged 15 to 24 by 2050. \u201cIn Europe, that number is just about 50 million, and in East Asia, it’s dropping from 250 million to about 150 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He highlighted that the African youth is the target. \u201cThey have not been able to get them to smoke for a long time. The next strategy is to get them hooked on fashionable nicotine,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Many tobacco companies claim e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are safer than traditional smoking. However, Prof Ayo-Yusuf cautioned against this assumption. \u201cIndeed, e-cigarettes have lower exposure compared to cigarette smoke. But anything compared to cigarette smoke will come out a winner. If you compare it to not smoking at all, you see a significant risk to the person using it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His research in South Africa, which surveyed over 18,000 people, found that e-cigarette users who quit smoking often relapsed within six months. \u201cIn South Africa, it\u2019s suppressing cessation. Young people who were not smoking before are the ones actually starting. This is a bigger risk to public health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The tobacco industry\u2019s influence extends to public health policies, particularly in developing countries. Prof Ayo-Yusuf noted that South Africa used to be a global benchmark for tobacco control, but not in the last ten years. Weak regulatory systems and political corruption have allowed the industry to infiltrate policymaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe industry bribes politicians for privileges and access to decision-making rooms. They also influence the media to shape public opinion. Sometimes, they even take journalists and politicians on overseas trips,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to evidence that the illicit cigarette trade in South Africa is linked to the tobacco industry itself. \u201cMost of those cigarettes are manufactured in the same factories as legal cigarettes. They simply evade tax, making them cheaper,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
To combat these tactics, Prof Ayo-Yusuf helped establish the Africa Center for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to regulate cigarettes. We must monitor the industry\u2019s tactics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The center has developed an online course to train advocates and government officials across Africa. \u201cWe\u2019ve trained over 250 people across 12 countries, helping them recognise when the industry is influencing policy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Prof Ayo-Yusuf asserts that research and science must shape public health policies, not corporate interests.<\/p>\n
LISTEN<\/strong> to the full interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany and Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, head of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University of Pretoria, here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za 13 March 2025 | 14:00 CAT 2 min read The tobacco industry is aggressively marketing e-cigarettes and nicotine products to Africa\u2019s youth, exploiting regulatory gaps and framing them as so-called safer alternatives. Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, head of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University of Pretoria, warns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":96007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/126c4e8f-eb51-4d7d-ad65-fb10f4a9f091.jpeg?fit=1500%2C844&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-oYu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 01:54:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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