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Themes

Your Trusted Source for Tobacco Control Data

An interactive portal that collects, analyses and presents data and information on tobacco control in South Africa through rigorous primary and secondary research.

Learn more about using the website, specific modules, and more here.

EXPLORE OUR TOBACCO CONTROL THEMES

Tobacco Prevalence

Disaggregated information on smoking prevalence in South Africa by age, gender, race, location and education.

Illicit Trade

Illicit trade market share in South Africa, types of illicit trade, and recommendations to combat illicit trade.

Health Burden

How tobacco use impacts health, tobacco related hospitalizations and deaths in South Africa, and the financial burden of tobacco to the economy.

Taxation

Review of tobacco-tax policies and their impact on prevalence, South Africa’s tobacco excise taxes, excise revenue, and legal vs illegal cigarette consumption, tobacco taxation myths.

Enforcement

Review of tobacco-control measures and their impact on prevalence, the impact of the 2020 tobacco sales ban, tobacco cessation, and global lessons learnt.

E-cigarettes

E-cigarettes defined, prevalence of e-cigarette use in South Africa, and policy implications for taxing e-cigarettes.

Tobacco Agriculture

Estimated tobacco-industry jobs in South Africa, switching to alternative crops, and tobacco industry exploitation of farmers.

KEY INSIGHTS

PARTNERS

We would like to thank our stakeholders and partners who participated in the TCDI assessment mission and workshop or reviewed content for this website. Organisations that participated:

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Cancer Association of South Africa
Department of Treasury
Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa
Human Sciences Research Council
South African Medical Research Council
The Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research

National Department of Health
National Council Against Smoking
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling Advisory, Advocacy and Action Group
World Health Organization

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REFERENCES

1. GATS. (2021). Global Adult Tobacco Survey Factsheet South Africa 2021. Accessed on 4 August 2022. Available at: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/ncds/ncd-surveillance/data-reporting/south-africa/gats2021_south_africa.pdf

2. Vellios, N. (2022). How big is the illicit cigarette market in South Africa? Econ3x3. Accessed on 27 September 2022. Available at: https://www.econ3x3.org/article/how-big-illicit-cigarette-market-south-africa

3. Boachie, M, K., Rossouw, L., & Ross, H. (2021). The economic cost of smoking in South Africa. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Accessed on 15 March 2021. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article-abstract/23/2/286/5896443

4. Otanez, M. & Glantz, S. (2011). Social responsibility in tobacco production? Tobacco companies’ use of green supply chains to obscure the real costs of tobacco farming. Tobacco Control. Accessed on 24 June 2021. Available at: https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/6/403

5. Tobacco Control Data Initiative. South African E-Cigarette Survey 2022 [dataset]. Version 1.Washington: TCDI [producer], 2023. Cape Town: TCDI [distributor], 2023. Accessed on 26 May 2023. Available at: https://southafrica.tobaccocontroldata.org/en/data-methods/

6. IARC (2011). Effectiveness of tax and price policies for tobacco control. Accessed on 8 February 2021. Available at: https://publications.iarc.fr/Book-And-Report-Series/Iarc-Handbooks-Of-Cancer-Prevention/Effectiveness-Of-Tax-And-Price-Policies-For-Tobacco-Control-2011