By Gitahi Ngunyi
@gitahi_ngunyi
Most Kenyans who use vapes or nicotine pouches do so for health-related reasons, primarily to quit smoking deadly cigarettes, according to a survey unveiled on World No Tobacco Day.
If these safer alternatives were banned, almost half of users say they would go back to cigarettes and some would even end up smoking more often, the poll reveals.
The survey concludes that nine out of 10 believe that the Ministry of Health’s proposed graphic health warnings for vapes and pouches are misleading and will deter smokers from switching to safer alternatives.
“These results show that vapes and nicotine pouches offer smokers their most effective escape route away from the cigarettes that will otherwise kill them,” said Joseph Magero, chairman of the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA), which conducted the survey.
He said restricting access to these products would deny smokers their best chance of quitting and would unnecessarily condemn them to premature death or disease.
“Instead of trying to scare smokers from switching to these safer alternatives, authorities should be trying to reduce the deadly toll of tobacco through evidence-based policy making and risk-proportionate regulation,” he said.
More than 300 Kenyan adults were questioned for the survey. 64 percent of respondents had quit cigarettes or reduced the amount they smoke as a result of using vapes or nicotine pouches.
58 percent or respondents believe that pouches are the best tool for quitting cigarettes, ahead of vapes (28 percent), health warnings (5 percent) and sin taxes (3 percent).
The survey found that less than one in four users would give up vape or pouches if they were banned. Most believe they will be able to find the products on the black market, while almost half are likely to go back to smoking cigarettes if a ban was implemented.
“The survey shows that users of vapes and pouches were six times more successful at giving up cigarettes than those who tried to quit ‘cold turkey’,” Magero said.
He said there the most powerful message on World No Tobacco Day was that there was need to ensure that safer alternatives are accessible, acceptable and affordable to adult smokers to meet the objective of saving people from cigarettes .
“The Ministry of Health must listen to the voice of smokers who are desperate to quit: for the millions of Kenyans who smoke, vapes and nicotine pouches offer a lifeline they never had before.”
