𝗭𝗔𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗔’𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔’𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗢-𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗙𝗨𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘

𝑩𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒖 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒂, 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑽𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒔, 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒅𝒔 and 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂, 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Walk through any market in Lusaka and you will still see them – brightly coloured packets, flavoured tobacco products, and nicotine pouches displayed within arm’s reach of school children. Mango. Mint. Cherry. The tobacco industry has always known that addiction begins young and that a child hooked at ten is a customer for life – or until their life ends too early.

For years, that was the reality Zambian advocates were fighting to change. Recently, Parliament changed it with them. The successful third reading of Zambia’s Tobacco Control Bill is not just a legislative milestone; it is the culmination of a long, hard, often painful reckoning – a story about whom a government chooses to protect and whom it refuses to serve.

𝗔 𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗦
The journey toward the passage of Zambia’s Tobacco Control Bill was neither smooth nor straightforward. For many years, the legislative process was shaped by competing national interests and deeply entrenched tensions surrounding tobacco production, economic survival, public health, and political decision-making. The Zambian government often found itself balancing two difficult positions: the industry’s economic arguments on one side, and the weight of evidence on the other.

The tobacco industry’s playbook is consistent across the continent. In Zambia, it threatened that legislation would destroy the economy, cripple agricultural productivity, and disrupt the livelihoods of farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs. Certain industry-aligned voices went as far as claiming that more than 500,000 jobs would be negatively affected by the legislation. These claims generated real anxiety, confusion, and resistance within sections of society and among some policymakers, creating repeated obstacles along the legislative path. Purposefully designed for this outcome.

Despite this prolonged back-and-forth struggle, civil society remained steadfast and unwavering in its resolve. Advocacy groups continued to organise evidence-based campaigns, amplify community voices, engage Members of Parliament, mobilise young people, and strengthen public understanding of the true cost of tobacco addiction and tobacco-related disease. Rather than retreating in the face of opposition, the coalition intensified its commitment to demanding the passage of the Bill, driven by the conviction that protecting lives, especially those of children, adolescents, and future generations, was far more valuable than preserving the unchecked interests of the tobacco industry.

𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗢 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘: 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗𝗡’𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗
Under the banner of “Save Zambia from Tobacco,” a growing broad-based coalition movement of civil society organizations, academia, religious groups, Members of Parliament, professional bodies, community advocates, and public figures began doing what the tobacco industry feared the most: telling the truth, loudly, together, and with evidence.

With support from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, local advocates conducted the Big Tobacco Tiny Targets study – generating the kind of local, specific data that dismantles industry narratives and informs the public of the stark reality: tobacco companies were deliberately positioning their products to reach young Zambians at eye level in shops, street corners or stands near schools. Flavoured products. Affordable single sticks.

This was no accident of the market. It was a strategy, and the coalition named it as such. So, they took the evidence to Parliament, to the media and to communities across conventional and digital platforms. They organised. They amplified. And when the industry would push back, as they always do, advocates would push harder. The message steadily penetrated public discourse, helping to reposition tobacco control as not merely a health issue, but a national development, youth protection, and social justice concern.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗢𝗘𝗦
It obliterates the flavour trap. Banning characterising flavours recognises what every parent should know – mango and mint are not for 45-year-olds trying to quit. They are bait for young people who have never smoked. It raises the minimum age for access to tobacco products to 21 years old, thereby protecting young people from the temptation of trials and the snares of addiction. It bans all forms of Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship thereby making tobacco-use less attractive to young people.

It provides for 100% smoke-free environments, thereby protecting non-smokers from the effects of second- and third-hand smoke. It provides for cessation services to be offered to all those willing to quit.

It mandates industry to adhere to plain packaging and pictorial health warnings on all tobacco and nicotine products and devices, stripping tobacco products of their manufactured appeal. And critically, it shields public health policy from industry interference. Article 5.3 of the FCTC is a firewall. Zambia’s move to insulate public health policy from industry lobbying sets a standard even the African Union should adopt.

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗭𝗔𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗔’𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦
At Tobacco Free Kids, we have stood with civil society in Zambia who strategically advocated for the passage of strong tobacco control legislation through coalition building, generating local evidence through a Big Tobacco Tiny Targets study, forging strategic partnerships, mobilizing voices from a cross-section of allies and providing technical assistance to the government. They did not ask for applause. They asked for law. These past few weeks, Parliament answered.

Every Parliament in Africa watching this process needs to understand that the tobacco industry’s arguments did not change. They never do. What changed is that Zambia stopped believing them. Zambia’s neighbours have a blueprint. And they have a responsibility.

Tobacco costs African nations far more than it generates. The health system burden, the lost productivity, the premature deaths of working-age citizens, the families fractured by tobacco-related diseases – these are the true factors the industry never embeds in its economic models. Zambia just decided to count them.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦
What comes next matters most. Implementation is where good bills live or die. That means funding enforcement, training inspectors, and measuring change in communities — not just on paper. It means rejecting the false choice between “harm reduction” and child protection.

To Zambia’s parliamentarians: thank you for leading and for choosing the health and productive future of your nation. To the rest of Africa: the line has been drawn. Now draw yours.

𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦
Bintou Camara Bityeki is the Associate Vice President, Africa Programs, Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids, partnering with governments and civil society to support strong public health policies across the continent.
Master Chimbala is a multi-media practitioner and social impact activist passionate about public health, youth empowerment, and community transformation.
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