Zambia’s tobacco bill risks blocking smokers’ best route to quit, new report warns

November 24, 2025

LUSAKA – Zambia’s new tobacco bill risks depriving smokers of their best chance to quit the deadly habit, according to a landmark new report released today.

The comparative study, Tale of Two Nations: Zambia v Sweden, reveals that Zambia’s proposed legislation could roll back public health progress by restricting or eliminating the very alternatives that have helped countries like Sweden slash smoking rates to historic lows.

Co-author Joseph Magero, chairman of the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA), delivered a stark warning: “Zambia is on the brink of condemning smokers to stick with deadly cigarettes, by banning the tools that could save their lives.”

Despite more than a decade of tobacco control policies, Zambia’s smoking rate has barely moved, falling from 11% in 2011 to just 9% today, with smoking among men exceeding 20%. Each year, an estimated 3,814 Zambians die from tobacco-related diseases, costing the nation more than 1.59 billion kwacha in health and productivity losses.

“We cannot pretend current policies are working when the data shows Zambia is still trapped in smoke,” Magero said. “This bill doubles down on the very approach that has failed for over a decade.”

While Sweden embraced safer nicotine alternatives, including snus, vaping and nicotine pouches, Zambia’s bill proposes some of the harshest restrictions in Africa, banning flavours, enforcing plain packaging with misleading warnings and treating low-risk products exactly like cigarettes.

The report shows that Sweden’s harm-reduction model has driven daily smoking down to 5.3%, the lowest in Europe and nearly half of Zambia’s rate.

Co-author Dr. Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden and a formed secretary-general of the World Medical Association, said: “By embracing harm reduction and allowing adult smokers to switch to safer alternatives like snus, nicotine pouches and vapes, Sweden has shown the world how to eliminate smoking without coercion or stigma.”

The report highlights strong international evidence showing that flavours are essential in helping adult smokers quit, with users of fruit and sweet vape liquids 50–60% more likely to transition away from cigarettes. Where flavour bans exist, smoking has stagnated or increased.

“Zambian smokers deserve the truth, the choice and the chance to quit, not another law that keeps them in harm’s way,” Magero said.