Prospects for tobacco control in Zimbabwe: a historical perspective

Using a historical and political economy perspective, this paper explores t he prospects for tobacco control in Zimbabwe, the world's sixth largest pro ducer and third largest tobacco exporter. Tobacco production, which first b egan in the former Rhodesia in the early 1900s, is closely associated with colonial history and land occupation by white settlers. The Zimbabwe (forme rly Rhodesia) Tobacco Association was formed in 1928 and soon became a powe rful political force. Although land redistribution has always been a centra l issue, it was not adequately addressed after independence in 1980, largel y due to the need for Zimbabwe to gain foreign currency and safeguard emplo yment. However, by the mid-1990s political pressures forced the government to confront the mainly white, commercial farmers with a new land acquisitio n policy, but intense national and international lobbying prevented its imp lementation. With advent of global economic changes, and following the star t of a structural adjustment programme in 1991, manufacturing began to decl ine and the government relied even more on the earnings from tobacco export s. Thus strengthening tobacco control policies has always had a low nationa l and public health priority. Recent illegal occupation of predominately wh ite owned farms, under the guise of implementing the former land redistribu tion policy, was politically motivated as the government faced its first ma jor challenge at the general elections in June 2000. It remains unclear whe ther this will lead to long term reductions in tobacco production, although future global declines in demand could weaken the tobacco lobby. However, since Zimbabwe is only a minor consumer of tobacco, a unique opportunity do es exist to develop controls on domestic cigarette consumption. To achieve this the isolated ministry of health would need considerable support from i nternational agencies, such as the World Health Organisation and World Bank . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.