Africa Conference on Tobacco Control & DEVELOPMENT

BACKGROUND

Two decades after enactment of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)1, significant strides have been made and realised especially on the African continent.. However, more needs to be done to bridge the information gap, harmonise and strengthen stakeholder collaboration and networking, and utilizing lessons and experiences garnered todate with focus on Youth and Gender, Environment and Climate Change, New and Emerging Products, Tobacco Control (TC) Financing. 

On this front, the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) together with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), and other strategic partners in TC agreed to establish a platform for enhanced knowledge sharing and dissemination. They agreed on the launch of  the African Tobacco Control and Development Conference,which would be held biennal, as a convening platform  for key stakeholders in the TC ecosystem to share ideas, experiences and exchange knowledge, critical for tackling the challenges of Tobacco control whilst accelerating the implementation of the WHO-FCTC in Africa. The maiden Tobacco Control and Development conference, was held in 2021, and called for action to a Tobacco Free Africa. While the first conference of Tobacco Control and Development had targeted 300 attendees, 600 participants registered for the confrernce with 586 attendees. The conference had discussions spanned economics of tobacco, alternative livelihoods, policy and financing.The second conference on TC and Development  under the theme “Breaking Barriers, Building Futures: Advancing the Tobacco Control ecosystem  in Africa”, seeks to strengthen the TC operating environment and dynamics. Despite the WHO FCTC, Africa is still laing behind in TC  implementation. Therefore, this second conference aims to strengthen   and empower the actors for  TC implementation in Africa.The conference is projected to bring together policy makers, researchers and TC advocates to match the rapidly evolving policy,while entrenching sustainability in all the developmental facets of TC . It will provide opportunities for learning and networking to maximize experiences, knowledge, best practices and lessons critical to global, continental, regional and national TC responses. The theme of the conference aligns with the African Union’s trajectory to skill Africa human resource to build a resilient education system for enhanced access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning.