'Aids cutting Swazi smoking'
2004-04-08 08:18
Special Report
The South African government has announced a joint venture to reduce the cost of anti-retroviral drugs with a Swiss company.
Johannesburg - It may be a dim silver lining to a particularly dark cloud, but one apparent result of the Aids pandemic in Swaziland is that fewer people there are smoking.
John Kunene of health ministry said: "When people learn they are HIV-positive, they are counselled to live a healthy lifestyle to prolong their lives.
"The shock that they may die prematurely of Aids is just the type of trauma that gets people to stop smoking."
Although the Council on Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs (Cosad) has no statistics on the reported decline, it says there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to buttress the claim.
"Our... evidence is gathered at secondary schools, where teachers and headmasters report fewer students smoking, from other various groups and organisations, and from what we perceive (to be) happening with tobacco sales," said a Cosad official.
Shops reported that cigarette sales were down, something borne out by hawkers in Manzini.
40% of adults positive
"I am selling fewer cigarettes," said Simeon, a hawker from Maputo. "People are not buying as many. I am selling more mobile phone cards these days than packets of cigarettes."
According to the Central Statistics Office, which assembles economic data for the ministry of economic planning, nearly 40% of Swazi adults between 18 and 49 are HIV-positive, although many are not aware of their status.
Sepiwe Hlope, co-president of Aids support group Swazis for Positive Living, said: "Aids is no longer an immediate death sentence if they follow a healthy lifestyle.
"What they must do is some moderate exercise, take vitamins, lower or cut out alcohol - and no smoking."
"I used to smoke, but I lost a taste for it when I got sick," says an HIV-positive contractor from Matsapha, an industrial centre near Manzini.
"Smoking made my cough worse when I got the first flu after getting the HIV. I just didn't feel like smoking anymore," said the builder, who only wished to be identified as Sam.
He added that a lack of money had also played a role in prompting members of a support group he attended to kick the habit.
Several of these HIV-positive people had lost their jobs because of illness - or were working fewer hours - leaving them with less disposable income for cigarettes.
Tobacco a source of foreign exchange
Others preferred to use what money they had to buy vitamin supplements and fresh fruits and vegetables, which can be expensive in Swaziland.
A report issued in January this year by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) stated that tobacco consumption was expected to increase in developing countries until 2010.
The debate around tobacco is complicated by the fact that it provides an important source of foreign exchange for sub-Saharan countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi. - Inter Press Service
- African Eye