Jump to full article: Health-E, 2009-11-12
Intro: While several African countries are making progress in implementing smokefree laws, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke.
According to Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry Winning Smokefree Air, a report released on the eve of the African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference, more than 400-million people are protected by "comprehensive" smokefree laws with a further 500-million covered by "strong" smokefree laws.
"Comprehensive" smokefree laws do not allow any designated smoking rooms and include only extremely limited exemptions, while "strong" laws allows for these rooms.
The report points out that while there has been rapid progress there is a long way to go with people in low and middle-income countries set to bear the brunt of the global tobacco epidemic. Without clear tobacco control policies, tobacco-related illness, disability and death will follow.
The report calls on governments to continue to act if they are to meet the goal of protecting everyone from secondhand smoke by 2012 with most countries having to considerably strengthen existing smoking restrictions in order to meet the target.
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