Recent research done by the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR-Rwanda), in collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has found that a great number of men (23%) who smoke are aged 48 to 59 in Rwanda.  

The majority of male smokers (17 per cent) are in the lower-income category, while most male smokers, 14.4 per cent, are from the Southern Province of Rwanda.

Also, the research identified that only about seven per cent of male smokers are from the Western Province. The majority of the sampled smokers (23.6 per cent) are Muslims. It was also revealed that non-smokers spend around eight additional years in school than smokers, while the majority of male non-smokers (90 per cent) listen to the radio. 

The situation

The 2021 National Institute of Statistic Rwanda (NISR) indicates that in Rwanda, the prevalence of tobacco use (smoking) is at seven per cent and less than one per cent for men and women aged 15 to 49 years respectively.

Dr Dynamo Ndacyayisenga, the in-charge of management of alcohol and drug use disorders at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), says progress has been made to protect communities from tobacco use and its harmful effects.

Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus Nicotiana of the family Solanaceae. Photos/Net

This, he says, includes raising taxes on tobacco, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, and protecting people from tobacco smoke, among others.

Although these measures have contributed to a decrease in the number of male smokers in developed countries, he says it is still increasing in developing countries.

 According to World Health Organization (WHO), this is because more than 80 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco smokers are from low and middle-income countries.

Thus, the majority of smokers are from poor households living in these countries, and smoking worsens poverty levels as households divert spending on basic needs such as food and shelter to tobacco.

Meanwhile, studies also indicate that the smoking habit has declined overtime, for example, as reported by NISR the smoking rate among males and females aged 15-59 has decreased from 12 per cent to seven per cent and from two per cent to 0.9 per cent between 2014-15 and 2019-2020 (NISR, 2021).

This reduction in smoking, however, is attributed to the implementation of the tobacco control law as well as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

Precisely, the tobacco control law prohibits selling tobacco to youth under 18 years of age, smoking in public places, and packing as well as labelling, among others.

Way forward

Dr Martine Ruzima, Research Fellow at IPAR-Rwanda, says there is a need to increase public awareness and education on smoking risks through media.

 "Media plays a vital role in discouraging smoking behaviour amongst male adults in Rwanda. Thus, government and key stakeholders through media could publicise relevant information on the health risks of smoking to the community,” he adds.

Dr Ruzima says there is also a need to strengthen the 12 Years Basic Education (12YBE) Program, noting that the findings from the study reveal that male adult smokers spent only one year in school compared to nine years spent by non-smokers.

Also, findings indicate that smoking behaviour only starts declining after four years of schooling. 

Therefore, strengthening government programs on 12 years of basic education (12YBE), offered free of charge at public schools and compulsory for all children, will help reduce smoking among Rwandan male adults in the near future.

"Improving income of poor households, the study indicates that male adults in the lower-income category have a higher probability of smoking,” he says.

Accordingly, government poverty eradication policies (social protection including Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP)) that raise poor households’ income will also help to control tobacco smoking.

Availing smoking areas in cheap bars and their surroundings: The findings showed that very few places, such as big and decent hotels and restaurants, have smoking areas.

Therefore, the government and its stakeholders should put more effort into sensitising the setting up of smoking areas in places where many people are gathered, such as bars in neighbourhoods, to protect people from health risks associated with second-hand smoking.