Public health expert urges stronger Tobacco control campaigns in Nigeria

A public health expert has called for intensified awareness campaigns, deeper media engagement and the incorporation of tobacco cessation counselling into medical training to address the rising burden of tobacco-related diseases in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Professor Daniel Oshi, a Professor of Public Health Education in the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry at the University of the West Indies, made the call at a tobacco control seminar organised in Enugu by the Centre for Development and Reproductive Health for journalists from the Southeast.

Oshi, who also serves as Director of Research and Innovation at the organisation and was Project Director for the programme, said the seminar was designed to strengthen participants’ understanding of tobacco smoking, its prevalence and its wide-ranging health, social and economic implications.

He explained that the training was structured to equip journalists with current data and practical tools required to advance tobacco control advocacy and sustained public sensitisation.

According to him, while sustained public health interventions have led to a steady decline in smoking rates across many developed countries, available evidence indicates that tobacco use is increasing in several developing nations, underscoring the urgency of prevention-driven strategies.

Oshi added that the inclusion of the Southeast region in the initiative was deliberate, emphasising the importance of community-based approaches in confronting public health challenges.

“At the end of the day, whatever affects people globally is first reflected in their immediate communities. That is why interventions must start from home. When we had the opportunity to implement this project, we ensured that the Southeast was part of it,” he said.

The seminar, he added, was expected to increase participants’ understanding of tobacco smoking risks, while also encouraging them to actively promote cessation strategies and harm reduction approaches.

Oshi emphasised that the media plays a critical role in shaping public health behaviour and policy direction, urging journalists to approach tobacco control reporting with renewed urgency and responsibility after the training.

Beyond public awareness, the professor advocated for structural reforms in medical education, particularly the inclusion of tobacco cessation and cancer-related counselling in undergraduate training for healthcare professionals.

He said doctors, dentists, medical laboratory scientists, and other health professionals should be trained early in their careers to provide basic counselling to smokers seeking to quit.

Oshi clarified that the proposal focuses strictly on training medical students to support smoking cessation and does not include advocacy for electronic cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapy in school curricula.

“We are saying that healthcare professionals should be properly trained during their undergraduate years to provide basic counselling to smokers on how to quit. That is the key area we want included in medical training,” he explained.

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Addressing the broader debate around smoking cessation tools, Oshi acknowledged global controversies surrounding nicotine e-cigarettes, noting that public health policies often reflect political and institutional positions as much as scientific evidence.

He pointed out that some international health institutions consider nicotine e-cigarettes to be effective harm reduction tools for adult smokers trying to quit traditional tobacco, while other global bodies maintain strong opposition due to safety and policy concerns.

The public health scholar described two dominant global schools of thought on smoking cessation: the strict anti-smoking and anti-vaping approach, and the anti-smoking pragmatic approach, which supports harm reduction strategies for smokers unable to quit through willpower alone.

He, however, maintained that quitting smoking entirely without substitutes remains the ideal outcome.

“If a smoker can quit through self-discipline alone, that is the best and safest approach. But if they cannot, some experts believe harm reduction alternatives may help. However, nicotine itself remains addictive and should ideally be avoided,” he said.

He also highlighted that traditional tobacco cigarettes contain over 7,000 chemicals, many of which are harmful and cancer-causing, while some research suggests that e-cigarettes may contain significantly fewer harmful substances.

Using public health analogies, he compared smoking cessation strategies to reproductive health prevention models, noting that while abstinence is the ideal prevention method, practical harm reduction options are often necessary in real-life situations.

Public health experts at the seminar also stressed the need for improved access to approved smoking cessation support systems, including behavioural counselling and regulated therapeutic interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Participants were encouraged to deepen investigative and educational reporting on tobacco use, youth smoking trends, second-hand smoke exposure, and the economic burden of tobacco-related illnesses.