The Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mrs. Delese Mimi Darko, has issued a strong warning against the use of Shisha, emphasizing that “just one hour of Shisha use is equivalent to smoking about 200 cigarettes.” She highlighted that eight million people worldwide die each year due to tobacco products, deaths that are preventable.

"Let us face the harsh truth: tobacco is a leading cause of preventable death globally, taking over 8 million lives annually. It’s a public health crisis that affects everyone, especially our children," she stated.

Her speech, delivered by the Deputy CEO for Corporate Services Division, Mrs. Yvonne Nkrumah, during the World No Tobacco Day event in Accra, referenced a 2017 Global Youth Tobacco survey which found that 8.8 percent of students were using tobacco products, including shisha, and 8.5 percent were using Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems like e-cigarettes and vapes.

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed annually on May 31 to highlight the harmful effects of tobacco and related products on health. This year’s theme is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference.”

The event, organized by the FDA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and Vision for Alternative Development-Ghana (VALD), aimed to raise awareness about the strategies used by the tobacco industry to target children and adolescents.

Mrs. Darko pointed out that the tobacco industry, with its "insidious marketing strategies, preys upon our youth, ensnaring them in a web of addiction and suffering."

Deputy Minister of Health, Mr. Alexander Akwasi Acquah, mentioned that through the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Project 2030, a 5-year National Tobacco Control Strategy has been developed and is currently being implemented. He noted improvements in inter-agency coordination, the revision of the smoke-free policy, and the enforcement of the ban on tobacco advertising.

The Head of Research Unit at GRA, Dr. Alex Kombat, reported that Tobacco Excise Tax Revenue has increased from GH₵66.98 million in 2017 to GH₵936 million in 2023. However, it costs the country GH₵668 million annually to combat tobacco use.

Source b www.ghanaweb.com