Public health advocates from 12 African countries have gathered in Lagos for the third edition of the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) Tobacco Industry Monitoring (TIM) training course, aimed at strengthening the continent’s capacity to monitor, expose and counter tobacco industry interference in public health policy.
The five-day training, being hosted in Nigeria for the first time, has brought together participants from Kenya, Nigeria, Benin, Botswana, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
The programme is led by internationally renowned tobacco control expert, Prof. Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, Head of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University of Pretoria and Director of ATIM. The team of facilitators includes lecturers from the University of Bath, England, alongside policy advocates and researchers from the United States, Nigeria, Brazil and Togo.
Addressing participants at the opening of the training, Ayo-Yusuf said tobacco industry interference in public policy and public health remains a major challenge across Africa, undermining tobacco control efforts and contributing to preventable deaths.
He said the course is designed to shift tobacco control advocates from reacting to industry interference to proactively anticipating, monitoring and countering it through evidence-based strategies.
“The course is intended to strengthen the capacity of tobacco control advocates to effectively monitor and counteract tobacco industry interference in public health policies in Africa,” he said. “It is also intended to help advocates better understand the tobacco industry and hold it to account, which is crucial to further progress in tobacco control.”
According to him, participants will acquire practical skills to identify and document tobacco industry interference, analyse emerging industry tactics, search and interpret industry documents, identify front groups and third-party allies, and generate evidence to support policy advocacy.
He added that the training would also equip participants to draft effective tobacco control policies and implementation plans, as well as advocacy strategies for their organisations and countries.
Also speaking, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the tobacco industry continues to evolve its strategies, making it imperative to build a new generation of tobacco control advocates.
“Some of us have been in tobacco control advocacy for close to three decades and we recognise the need to build the next generation of advocates,” Oluwafemi said. “Among the participants are government officials, civil society organisations, public health advocates, economists and others. ATIM is building their capacity to take the baton to the next level.”
He warned that the industry’s growing promotion of what he described as a “false narrative of harm reduction” underscores the need for continuous capacity building.
“It is necessary to ensure advocates understand how the industry continues to spread misleading narratives to get our youths and children addicted and how governments should enforce the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and national laws,” he added.
Participants described the training as timely and impactful.
Jackline Mbone Juma, a youth tobacco control advocate with the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance and Health Promotion, said the programme had provided practical skills in tobacco industry monitoring and research.
“We’ve learnt a lot. We’ve gained hands-on skills on how to conduct industry monitoring, research and access tobacco industry documents. We’ve also been able to understand and reflect on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” she said.
Emmanuel Onwuka, a journalist and Communications Officer at the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), said the training comes at a critical time as the tobacco industry develops new products and marketing strategies targeting young people.
“The ATIM Building Capacity in Industry Monitoring for Effective Tobacco Control Advocacy in Africa (BETA 3.0) training has come at a crucial time,” Onwuka said. “Through the training, I am gaining valuable knowledge about tobacco use trends and the tobacco industry’s agenda across Africa. I am confident that by the end of the programme, I will be better equipped to effectively monitor, document and report on tobacco industry interference.”
Based at the University of Pretoria, ATIM is a specialised African centre for tobacco industry monitoring, intelligence and policy research.
The centre tracks tobacco industry activities across Africa while supporting research, policy protection and capacity building in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Its Tobacco Industry Monitoring course, delivered in English and French, is open to tobacco control advocates, researchers, academics, journalists and government policymakers across the continent.
