The Covid-19 pandemic was a bag of mixed fortunes the world over wreaking havoc on health systems and throwing into disarray strategies put in place to deal with disease control.
The health systems in Africa were inadequately prepared for the pandemic, and its impact was substantial. Responses were slow and did not match the magnitude of the problem.
Interestingly, the tobacco industry used this opportunity to re-invent itself and saw the pandemic as a blessing in disguise. The link between tobacco use and Covid-19 severity has brought more attention to tobacco control as an important public health intervention.
A report launched earlier this month by the Africa Tobacco Control Alliance, Covid-19 and Tobacco Control in Africa, reveals the strategies employed by the industry during the pandemic.
It followed a study aimed to investigate and monitor the activities (ie, promotional) of the tobacco industry during the Covid-19 pandemic in African countries and to explore ways these activities may have impacted and/or undermined tobacco control efforts in the region.
Findings from this study show that African countries were negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic like the rest of the world. However, the tobacco industry exploited the pandemic and attempted to circumvent tobacco control in many of these countries during this time.
The industry largely and successfully used strategies like creating publicity stunts by announcing their interest to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine made from the tobacco plant, making donations, litigation and marketing their products through online platforms.
According to the report, countries around the world, including in Africa, citizens and corporate bodies were mobilised to assist government in cash or in-kind in the quest to address the health and economic challenges brought about by Covid-19.
The tobacco industry saw this as an opportunity to gain political currency and public sympathy by donating cash to governments’ solidarity funds and donating medical supplies to the health sector of some countries.
The tobacco industry was found manipulating public opinion to gain the appearance of respectability. Marketing of new products like Lyft nicotine pouches in Kenya was seen during this period.
They were marketed as alternative tobacco/nicotine products as a way to convince people that they had a solution for smokers wanting to quit as a result of the link between smoking and Covid-19 disease severity. The industry marketed its products on social media platforms in order to engage with the youth.
The report also reveals that the tobacco industry used donations disguised as corporate social responsibility activities to manipulate the public.
The industry donated things like Covid-19 essentials. These donations, which included sanitiser, oxygen machines and other Covid-19 essentials, were acts to make the industry appear socially responsible and allow the government to see them as progressive partners of society.
Tobacco companies were aware that with lockdown restrictions people were most likely to struggle financially so they donated to charities and hospitals as part of efforts to support people during the pandemic.
The donations were mainly aimed at influencing people’s perceptions and project the companies as caring and mindful of people’s welfare, especially during such times as presented by the pandemic.
Shockingly, and in one of the most brazen efforts to manipulate scientific findings, while scientists and tobacco control researchers were in the process of gathering more scientific evidence about the association between tobacco use and Covid-19, the industry used this opportunity to share inaccurate information about tobacco smoking being protective against Covid-19.
The industry went as far as using the media through front groups to disseminate distorted scientific findings indicating that tobacco users were less likely to suffer severe cases of Covid-19.
For instance, in Benin the tobacco industry was called out for spreading fake news about tobacco being healthy to use during the pandemic in contradiction to the link found between tobacco use and Covid-19 disease severity.
It is against this backdrop that African governments must put in place strong safeguards against tobacco industry interference with a view to promoting healthy populations across the continent.
Manager Corporate Communications-Nacada
