Organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 40 experts from 15 countries in the WHO African Region gathered today to train on tobacco taxes in Nairobi, Kenya as part of efforts of Member States in the WHO African Region to address the growing prevalence of tobacco use. The experts were drawn mainly from the ministries of finance in their respective countries. The countries involved include Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The four-day training workshop was facilitated by WHO HQ and WHO AFRO as well as WHO economic consultants. The regional training workshop on tobacco taxation was held in Nairobi, Kenya between 5 and 8 April 2011. The workshop aimed to provide training to Ministries of Finance officials to strengthen capacity on tobacco taxation. The training provided first an overview of the different types of taxes applied on tobacco globally and in Africa, participants then looked closely at the pros and cons of each type of tax and went over the different arguments used against tobacco taxation. In the second part of the workshop participants used a simulation model to look at the impact of different tobacco tax scenarios in their country and their impact on consumption and revenues. 

More on the WHO Regional Tobacco Taxes training Workshop Nairobi, Kenya 5-8 April 2011.