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Africa Faces Surge In Tobacco-Related Deaths 

Africans face a surge in cancer deaths amid growing rates of tobacco use and a lack of laws that protect people from second-hand smoke, according to a joint report released Wednesday by the Global Smokefree Partnership and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The continent, which accounts for 14 percent of the world’s population, has just four percent of the world’s smokers today. But African nations are set to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, with more than half the continent expected to double its tobacco use within 12 years if current trends continue, the report found.

This comes at a time when nearly 90 percent of Africans have no meaningful protection from secondhand smoke.

"If we don't act now on tobacco control in Africa, millions of lives will be lost because tobacco is now becoming an issue in Africa," Tom Glynn of the Global Smokefree Partnership told the AFP news agency.

The report, entitled “Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air”, also offers some hope.

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