Every World No Tobacco Day, we renew our commitment to ending the devastating toll of smoking.
But if we are serious in doing so, it is essential we tackle the problem using science and real-world evidence.
For many smokers, quitting nicotine entirely is difficult. Addiction is real, and decades of public health experience show that willpower alone is often not enough.
Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines
Increasingly, smokers are switching to safer, smokeless alternatives such as vapes and nicotine pouches. And, increasingly, the evidence is showing that these products are key to becoming tobacco-free.
Vapes pouches avoid the process responsible for most tobacco-related disease: burning tobacco.
Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, many linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness. Smoke-free nicotine products expose users to far fewer toxic substances. That distinction matters.
Countries that have recognised this have achieved remarkable results. Sweden made safer nicotine alternatives accessible, acceptable and affordable for adults and is now close to smoke-free status, with the lowest tobacco-related mortality in Europe. Meanwhile, both the United Kingdom and New Zealand have seen their smoking rates plummet after integrating vaping into smoking cessation services.
Yet Kenya risks undermining this progress through proposals to ban flavours in nicotine products.
Supporters of flavour restrictions argue that sweet, mint or fruit flavours attract teenagers and may serve as a gateway into nicotine use. Policymakers are right to be vigilant. Products should never be marketed to children, and strict age restrictions must be enforced.
But there is another side to the evidence.
Flavours are also one of the main reasons adult smokers successfully move away from cigarettes. Studies consistently show that adults who use non-tobacco flavours are more likely to quit smoking than those limited to tobacco flavour alone.
A major Yale University study tracking more than 17,000 Americans over five years found users of flavoured products were more than twice as likely to stop smoking completely.
For many adults, flavours help break the sensory link to cigarettes. Smokers trying to quit often do not want products that taste like tobacco. Mint, citrus and berry flavours can make switching more appealing and sustainable.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The challenge, then, is not choosing between protecting youth and helping adults quit smoking. Kenya can and should do both.
That means enforcing strict age verification, licensing retailers, restricting marketing aimed at minors and imposing serious penalties on irresponsible sellers.
But eliminating flavours altogether risks harming the very people policymakers say they want to help: adult smokers looking for a way out.
Experience elsewhere suggests bans can also fuel illicit markets. Demand rarely disappears. Products move underground, beyond quality controls, taxation and age checks. Some former smokers may even return to cigarettes.
This World No Tobacco Day, Kenya should pursue policies grounded in real-world outcomes. A tobacco-free future becomes more achievable when adult smokers are given safer, regulated and appealing alternatives, while young people are rigorously protected from access.
The objective should be fewer smokers, fewer smoking-related deaths and fewer young people taking up nicotine. Smart regulation can help achieve all three.
