They were unveiled on January 11 in Yaounde, on the occasion of the first annual coordination meeting chaired by Dr. Flore Ndembiyembe. Moment of reunion for the New Year, last year’s balance sheet, but also projection time for the New Year.

 In her words of circumstance and as a balance sheet, the President of the C3T said that the year 2017 which has just ended was a year rich and very dense activities, despite the extremely difficult context of the fight against tobacco in Cameroon. During the year, the Cameroon Coalition for Tobacco Control (C3T) has been deployed on several fronts. The activities in general focused on the main areas of intervention of the Coalition: Capacity building of the actors, sensitization of the population on the misdeeds of tobacco, advocacy with political decision makers, administrative and communal authorities and MPS, the regular exchanges with the journalists, the media communication and the monitoring of the activities of the tobacco industry.

This report is satisfactory overall, but at the same time, highlights many challenges that still remain to be met and which still challenge C3T members to contribute to achieving the goal of a Cameroon without disease or tobacco-related deaths.

Among these challenges, Dr. Flore Ndembiyembe particularly spoke about the outcome of the laws and regulations on tobacco control in Cameroon. « Cameroon needs a national anti-tobacco law as well as a regulatory text to protect the school sector against the aggressive marketing of the tobacco industry. The 2006 law governing advertising in Cameroon needs to be revised and its implementing decree is still expected to stop the intense advertising and promotional activity of tobacco and  its products, an activity currently being carried out by the industry in violation of national and international legal instruments. « , she said before continuing: » In addition, the populations, all layers combined, must be made aware of the socio-economic and health consequences of tobacco, and our public and collective places need to be protected to combat second hand smoking  that affects nearly 7 million of our compatriots « .

At the end of this meeting, which mobilized almost all the leaders of the member associations of the C3T, it appears that the celebration of the World No Tobacco Day will also be on the menu of activities of the Coalition in 2018. It is the same continued advocacy with school leaders for the creation of anti-tobacco clubs and the promotion of awareness among students about the harmful effects of smoking.

A well-developed roadmap that awaits the members of the Coalition for the new year 2018. To achieve the objectives, the President of the C3T has launched a call for the mobilization and commitment of all.