UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Clinical Sciences Building, City Hospital, Nottingham, UK.
Tob Control. 2009 Jun;18(3):206-11. doi: 10.1136/tc.2009.030601. Epub 2009 Apr 8.
African countries are a major potential market for the tobacco industry, and the smoking epidemic is at various stages of evolution across the continent. Ghana is an African country with a low prevalence of smoking despite an active tobacco industry presence for over 50 years. This study explores potential reasons for this apparent lack of industry success.
To explore the history of tobacco industry activity in Ghana and to identify potential reasons for the current low prevalence of smoking.
A search was made of tobacco industry archives and other local sources to obtain data relevant to marketing and consumption of tobacco in Ghana.
British American Tobacco, and latterly the International Tobacco Company and its successor the Meridian Tobacco Company, have been manufacturing cigarettes in Ghana since 1954. After an initial sales boom in the two decades after independence in 1957, the sustained further increases in consumption typical of the tobacco epidemic in most countries did not occur. Possible key reasons include the taking of tobacco companies into state ownership and a lack of foreign exchange to fund tobacco leaf importation in the 1970s, both of which may have inhibited growth at a key stage of development, and the introduction of an advertising ban in 1982. BAT ceased manufacturing cigarettes in Ghana in 2006.
The tobacco industry has been active in Ghana for over 50 years but with variable success. The combination of an early advertising ban and periods of unfavourable economic conditions, which may have restricted industry growth, are likely to have contributed to the sustained low levels of tobacco consumption in Ghana to date.
非洲国家是烟草业的一个主要潜在市场，该大陆各国的吸烟流行情况处于不同的演变阶段。加纳是一个非洲国家，尽管烟草业活跃已有 50 多年，但吸烟率仍然较低。本研究探讨了这种明显缺乏行业成功的潜在原因。
探索烟草业在加纳的活动历史，并确定当前吸烟率低的潜在原因。
对烟草业档案和其他当地来源进行了搜索，以获取与加纳烟草营销和消费相关的数据。
英美烟草公司（BAT），后来是国际烟草公司（ITA）及其继任者梅里登烟草公司（Meridian Tobacco Company），自 1954 年以来一直在加纳生产香烟。在 1957 年独立后的头二十年经历了最初的销售繁荣之后，消费的持续进一步增加并没有像大多数国家的烟草流行那样发生。可能的关键原因包括烟草公司被收归国有，以及 20 世纪 70 年代缺乏外汇来为烟叶进口提供资金，这两者都可能在发展的关键阶段抑制了增长，以及 1982 年广告禁令的出台。BAT 于 2006 年停止在加纳生产香烟。
烟草业在加纳活跃了 50 多年，但成功与否参半。早期的广告禁令和不利的经济条件时期相结合，可能限制了行业的发展，这很可能导致加纳目前持续的低烟草消费水平。
