Presentation by Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, D.D.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., regional director of the Global Bridges African region, at the Global Bridges Preconference at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Singapore.

1. Global Bridges Afro Region
Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, DDS, MPH, PhD
15th WCTOH Preconference Workshop
March 19, 2012

2. Context: Weak tobacco control in
Africa

3. OBJECTIVE 1
To create and mobilize a global
network of HCPs and organizations
dedicated to advancing effective
tobacco dependence treatment and
advocating for effective tobacco
control policy

4. Network membership
 The following 27countries are
From a base of
14, over 360 represented:
Tunisia
(175 trained) Morocco
Algeria
members joined Libya
Egypt
over 15 months! Cape
Verde
Mauritania
Mali
Niger
Chad Sudan Eritrea
Senegal Djibouti
Burkina
via existing
Faso
The Gambia Guinea
Nigeria Somalia
Ghana Ethiopia
Guinea-Bissau Côte Central African
health networks
d'Ivoire Cameroon Republic
Sierra Leone
Liberia Togo Benin Uganda
Equatorial Gabon
Congo Kenya Tobacco use
Guinea DR Congo Rwanda
prevalence estimates
through training
Burundi
Seychelles
São Tomé Tanzania No Data
Malawi
and Príncipe
workshops
Comoros
<10%
Angola
Zambia
10-19%
Mozambique
through RFA for
Zimbabwe Madagascar
Africa >=20%
Namibia Botswana
Mauritius
ACS tobacco South
Africa
Swaziland
control masters
Lesotho
programme

5. Collaborations with other
organizations
1. National Council Against Smoking (NCAS), South
Africa
2. Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA)
3. Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa
(DENOSA)
4. Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI),
Nigeria
5. Africa Tobacco Control Consortium (ATCC), Togo
6. Programme National de Lutte Contre les Toxicomanies
et les Substances Toxiques (PNLCT), Democratic
Republic of Congo
7. Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Democratic
Republic of Congo
8. Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA), Uganda

6. Challenges - 1
 Challenging to engage all recruited
while running training
 Networking to make GB known
through key actors in the region and
country
 No website activities were available
for most part of active recruitment
period to sustain interest from
members
 Diversity of culture and language

7. OBJECTIVE 2
To provide state-of-the-art, evidence-
based training in treatment and
advocacy to network members

8. Policy & Treatment conceptual
framework

9. Tobacco cessation training
workshops
Adapted ATTUD format (Aware → knowledgeable→ Proficient):
one day of didactic teaching followed by more interactive
skills-building in counselling (motivational interviewing) on day
2
Dates Location # of participants Length of
training (hrs)
August 16-18 Abadan, Nigeria 25 19
August 23-25 Pretoria, South Africa 29 19
September 23, 26, 27 Lagos, Nigeria 29 20
October 27-29 Lusaka, Zambia 22 20
November 7-8 Kinshasa, DRC 33 12
November 28-30 Johannesburg, South Africa 37 8

10. 1

11. 1

12. 1

13. Challenges - 2
 Training has been face-to-face as
there is limited technology and in-
country capacity to kick start tobacco
treatment.
 Trainees have expectations to have
more training and follow-up visits by
facilitators
 Health system is currently
overburdened and integration of
treatment is seen as a challenge in
several centers.
1

14. OBJECTIVE 3
To facilitate the implementation of
Article 14 in every nation
1

15. News on the advancement of Article
14
Measures to increase demand for
treatment
–Nigeria: the National Tobacco Control Bill was passed
on the 15 March 2011 – still awaiting president’s
ascent.
–Uganda: Launch of the CTCA - a support from Gates
through the WHO
–Pilot of feasibility of treatment support to public
servants in South Africa – a partnership between the
Public Service Admin & Health ministries and major
health insurer
1

16. Challenges - 3
 Tobacco control is pretty much in
infancy in the region
 Strong leadership from advocacy
organizations and little involvement
from health providers makes it more
challenging.
 Treatment (A14) has not been
prioritized due to lack of effective
implementation of other key
provisions of FCTC – smoke-free laws,
taxation and health warnings.
1

17. Challenges - 3
 Seniors at work places have not
embraced tobacco cessation
treatment—no champions
 Training non-medical personnel e.g.
social workers likely to advance Tx,
but has implication for curriculum
design
 Lack of funding for future work to
sustain current advances.
 Treatment is not covered by health
insurance 1

18. Conclusions
 Popularity of the training has increased, even among non-
health care professionals involved in tobacco control policy
 An instrument to measure the progress of trained HCPs who
offer tobacco use treatment to their patients needs to be
developed
 Build follow-up surveys to measure commitment of HCPs a year
after they have received training into our training plan
 Network members need to be actively engaged after their
recruitment to retain interest
 Train only candidates who commit to sending quarterly reports
on patient encounters.
 Spend more time in engaging network members by posting
relevant resource materials on the Global Bridges website and
listserv
1

19. Planned meetings
 Upcoming 2-day GB tobacco cessation
workshops:
–Tanzania/Kenya
–Enugu, Nigeria
 Pre-conference workshops:
–WFPHA; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
23-27 April 2012
–PHASA Conference; Bloemfontein,
South Africa; 5-7 September 2012
1

20. Acknowledgements
 Global Bridges for funding the project
 Key network partners for been
ambassadors of GB and co-facilitating
training
 UP, UCH,LUTH, UNZ, FCA-DRC and
PHASA for hosting the workshops
 Network members for their valuable
input
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