MOH warns against use of nicotine replacement therapies

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health (MOH) has warned against the use of Nicotine Replacement Therapies saying that nicotine in whatever form or level is harmful.

These therapies are a medically approved way to treat people with tobacco use disorder by taking nicotine through means other than tobacco, either in the form of gum, patches, sprays, inhalers, or lozenges.

Speaking to URN in an interview on Thursday, Dr. Hafisa Lukwata, the Ag. Assistant Commissioner in charge of mental health and control of substance abuse in the ministry said these products are not safe.

Lukwata was speaking shortly after activists spoke to the media advocating for safer nicotine alternatives. According to Joel Sawa, a Team Lead at Tobacco Harm Reduction Uganda, these products have been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and are more than fifty percent effective in helping people quit smoking.

He also suggested that most of the harm associated with smoking happens at the time of cigarette combustion with over seventy thousand chemical reactions happening.

Sawa says for instance, instead of using regular conventional cigarettes, one would rather opt for e-cigarettes, which use electronic nicotine delivery systems.

But Lukwata says the idea of introducing such therapies as a means of harm reduction is just a gimmick introduced by the industry to sell their products adding that these products should not be ordered unless guided by a trained health worker.

Nicotine replacement therapies are available in Uganda although the public is largely unaware of them, and their prices are quite prohibitive that even if they are to be taken under the prescription of a doctor very few Ugandans would be able to afford them.

MoH figures show, 7.9 percent of adults aged fifteen and above in Uganda use tobacco products. Sawa says to help such a big number quit, the Ministry needs to revise its policy and have such innovations integrated into the care plan.

Meanwhile, in their recent call to action released last week, the WHO urged caution while adopting such innovations. In the case of e-cigarettes for instance, the organization urged countries that have permitted commercialization to ensure strong regulations to reduce their appeal and their harm to the population, including banning all flavors, limiting the concentration and quality of nicotine, and taxing them.

********

URN