An Op-Ed by British High Commissioner Guy Warrington
We know very well the evidence that the use of tobacco in all of its different types is extremely dangerous for health. Tobacco is also a serious barrier to national development, drives poverty and damages the environment. According to UNDP, tobacco consumption poses a major barrier to economic development at household, national and global levels.
That is why the UK Government is proud to be funding a project to reduce tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries by implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – an international treaty that is focused on fighting tobacco.
Through this new FCTC 2030 project, we are working with the UN to support 15 countries around the work to accelerate tobacco control. We are very pleased that Sierra Leone has been selected as one of the 15 countries to receive this new package of support.
While Sierra Leone has not yet achieved a lot to reduce tobacco use, the Government has shown its commitment to strengthen action to stop tobacco use. The FCTC 2030 project in Sierra Leone has a very ambitious strategy for reducing the use of tobacco, which will entail action across the whole of the government.
In this country, over a quarter of men smoke tobacco, putting their health and the health of their families at risk.
The United Kingdom is very proud of its achievements on tobacco and has introduced many measures to reduce tobacco consumption, including requiring cigarettes to be sold only in plain packages without promotional branding, hiding tobacco from view in shops and increasing tobacco taxes so that high prices will discourage consumption.
In the United Kingdom, rates of smoking have reduced substantially in the past decades. Through the FCTC 2030 project, we will share the United Kingdom’s experience in tobacco control with Sierra Leone and other countries.
The United Kingdom is very proud to continue our close partnership with Sierra Leone to advance health and development, including through this new project. That is why I was pleased to be at the Bintumani hotel last week to witness the formal launch of the project with the Government of Sierra Leone.