Leading the way: Zambia’s opportunity to align with African success stories in Tobacco Control

ALLIANCE POUR LE CONTROLE DU TABAC EN AFRIQUE (ACTA)

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Leading the Way: Zambia’s Opportunity to Align with African Success Stories in Tobacco Control

Statement from Mrs. Kouami Kossiwa, Interim Executive Secretary of the African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA)

Lome, 23 March 2026

The African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) is observing with interest the public health landscape in the Republic of Zambia as the Tobacco Control Bill 2025 is discussed in parliament. The country has reached a critical juncture where it must decide how it handles the basic responsibility of protecting the health of its population, especially the vulnerable groups, from a major threat like tobacco. The world is closely monitoring Zambia’s response to the tobacco epidemic, an epidemic that claims over 7,000 Zambian lives annually.

For too long, a narrative has been promoted that tobacco is an economic asset for Zambia. However, empirical data reveals a starkly different reality.^{^[1]} While the industry highlights its revenue, Zambia suffers an estimated ZMW 1.6 billion to ZMW 2.8 billion in annual economic losses due to tobacco-related healthcare costs and lost productivity.^{^[2]} These losses do not include the profound social cost of the tobacco supply chain. Across Zambia’s tobacco-growing regions, farmers are frequently trapped in cycles of debt through contract farming systems that favor corporate profit over rural prosperity.¹ This economic strain often necessitates the use of child labor,^{^[3]} forcing children to be withdrawn from school to handle toxic tobacco leaves, exposing them to nicotine poisoning without protective gear.

Aligning national legislation with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) creates big wins for health and the economy. In Senegal, the implementation of strong tobacco control measures led to a significant decrease of more than 25% in adult tobacco consumption between 2015 and 2023, while simultaneously allowing the government to increase excise taxes to generate revenue for public health.⁴ Similarly, Ethiopia has set a continental standard by strictly prohibiting tobacco industry interference in public policy, a move that has protected

its national health initiatives from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry. These frameworks have proven to be powerful tools for domestic resource mobilization and, through the adoption of adequate track and trace systems, have directly empowered governments to combat illicit trade. By reclaiming control over their markets from tax-evading entities, these nations have debunked the myth that regulation harms the economy; highlighting that it instead stabilizes it.

According to the 2025 Africa Tobacco Industry Interference Index, Zambia ranked as the worstperforming of 20 surveyed nations in terms of protecting its public health policies from the vested interest of the tobacco industry.^{^[4]} This is a signal that Zambia is currently vulnerable to industry interference that contradicts its sovereign health goals. As a Party to the WHO FCTC since 2008, Zambia is under a global spotlight to fulfill its treaty obligations. Article 5.3 of the FCTC is a fundamental requirement for nations to safeguard their health policies from an industry that has a documented history of attempting to dilute, delay, and dismantle health regulations for its financial interests.^{^[5]}

It is essential to clarify that comprehensive tobacco regulation does not seek to end the livelihoods of farmers or the rights of citizens; rather, it provides a long-overdue framework to regulate a deadly product. The content of such regulations, ranging from smoke-free public spaces to graphic health warnings, is designed to protect children and non-smokers while ensuring the public is informed of the grave consequences of tobacco use.

The path Zambia chooses now will determine its image on the global stage: a nation that leads in protecting its people, or one that yields to the commercial interests of an industry that profits from the daily death of its citizens. The world is watching.

Media contact: communication@atca-africa.org

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The African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) is a non-profit, non-political Pan-African network of civil society organizations headquartered in Lome, Togo. With membership in 39 countries, ATCA is dedicated to promoting public health and curbing the tobacco epidemic in the continent. The alliance is an Observer to WHOFCTC Conference of Parties, and Meeting of the Parties (MOP) of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. It has a Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC, it is certified with the equivalence of a US Public Charity organization, and it is accredited as a regional non-state actor with WHO AFRO.