Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe has disclosed that the Tobacco Control Bill was sent back to the ministry of Health.
Speaking in an exclusive interview Mr Haimbe said there are teachnical issues that's needs to be addressed before it is taken to Parliament for enactment.
"There is need to address technical issues in the Tobacco Control Bill before it is taken to Parliament and be enacted",He said.
For the past years the civil societies in Zambia have urged government to enact the Tobacco Control Bill, building national capacity to carry out effective and sustainable national tobacco control programmes is one of the most significant measures to combat the tobacco epidemic.
Successful implementation of the WHO FCTC requires establishing a national coordinating mechanism with an official government mandate for developing and Coordinating a plan of action as well as for building national infrastructure to implement and evaluate the plan.
Countries should protect people tobacco smoke and every person has a right to breathe air free of tobacco smoke.
Zambia loses about 1% to 2 % of it's GDP towards the costs of treating tobacco related diseases and along with this, Zambia close to 8,000 people each year because of tobacco related illnesses, such as lung cancer,stroke, Heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, chronic Obstructive Airway Diseases.
Call to Action. There is need for government through the ministry of health to enact the Tobacco Control Bill so that it can lives of young people can be saved from tobacco related diseases but the question remains, When will government enact the Tobacco Control Bill?
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