A Kenyan teacher wins a global award for anti-tobacco Compaign

A Kenyan teacher wins a global award for anti-tobacco Compaign

A Kenyan teacher wins a global award winning for his efforts in fighting tobacco use and addiction among local youth.

Joel Shunza Gitali, a 56-year-old Kiswahili teacher at Busia’s St. Stephen Bujwang’a Secondary School, was on Friday awarded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global prize for his works in tobacco control.

WHO also recognized the he Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries for introducing alternative crops in tobacco growing areas.

In a statement Gitali said that tobacco control is important for it promotes health through enabling people to change their habits and become healthier and protects passive smokers.

He added fight against tobacco protects the environment because tobacco plants and cigarette butts are hazardous to the environment.

Gitali, the current Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance chair in 1995 launched the Social Liberation and Health Promotion Club in Maseno to spur social and cultural change to enhance good health practices in the area.

“Students addicted to tobacco and drugs have a problem of not concentrating yet the school environment doesn’t permit them to smoke,” Gitali noted.

According to Gitali such students become defiant, they steal from others in order to buy cigarettes. They also sell books and so can’t perform well.

The Ministry of Health reports indicate that tobacco consumption directly contributes to approximately 9,000 deaths in Kenya each year.

These deaths, the ministry says, can easily be avoided if persons give up the highly addictive drug.