The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made a US$32m grant available to the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Foundation (CDC Foundation) and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK). The grant will be used to advance the coordination of the Tobacco Control Project across the continent, which aims to curb the menace of tobacco in Africa.
The Gates Foundation’s Deputy Director, Cynthia Lewis, said in a statement that the support “represents the largest funding commitment from the Foundation to the African continent for tobacco control to-date”. “African countries have [also] faced challenging tobacco industry road blocks, and a shifting landscape.”
Coming soon after the end of a previous intervention by the Gates Foundation on the continent, “this new phase of grants capitalizes on the excellent work already underway, while also responding to evolving and critical needs of many country partners,” the statement said.
Part of the funding will be used to develop the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The rest will be given as grants to civil society organizations to help develop evidence-based tobacco control policies in Africa. These policies will cover a number of areas, including tobacco taxation, advertising bans, graphic warning labels and the promotion of smoke-free environments across the continent. Participating Civil Society Organizations will come from Uganda, Kenya, Mauritania, Botswana, Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Benin, Gabon, and the Gambia.
The Gates Foundation described ACBF as a highly-respected leader in institutional and human capacity building that has managed $500m in grants in 45 African countries, adding that the latter also fills a key role as an Africa-based “strategic partner providing both grants and capacity building support for civil society and others.”
At a partners meeting last year, the ACBF, WHO, CDC Foundation and CTFK agreed that coordination and effective implementation of tobacco control would take a prominent place in the new project.They also agreed on an effective mechanism for work at country level, a joint reporting tool. They also consented to develop a monthly calendar of key activities as well as hold regular forums to discuss their plans and progress at country and regional levels.
The Gates Foundation is also supporting social marketing and behavior change work against tobacco use in Africa as a complement to this important ongoing policy work.
