Location
Harkins 308
Event Website
https://www.providence.edu/hpm/Pages/Conference.aspx
Start Date
12-4-2014 11:00 AM
End Date
12-4-2014 12:15 PM
Description
The past forty years have been tumultuous for tobacco companies facing increasingly stringent regulations in the northern hemisphere. To maintain profits, they have tapped into new markets in the developing world. One of these places, Malawi, an African nation with an economic dependence on tobacco growing, has been a target of their marketing prowess. This study provides a new perspective on the dichotomy that exists between short-term economic benefits and long-term health implications of tobacco in a poverty-ravaged nation.
Conflicting interests hinder tobacco regulation in Malawi. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that tobacco companies manipulate consumers and governments in order to increase consumption. Tobacco companies say that the WHO should focus on communicable diseases rather than interfering with developing nations’ autonomy. These competing voices distort facts regarding tobacco’s true effects in order to carry out their own agenda. This study explores three areas of concern that incite these conflicts: deforestation, child labor, and crop substitution.
This study also hypothesized that tobacco consumption in Malawi is increasing because of tobacco companies’ coziness with governments, advertising, and corporate philanthropy. Malawi’s economy depends on tobacco growing and sales for foreign exchange and jobs. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library proved to be invaluable by providing primary evidence as to how tobacco companies targeted Malawians to buy more tobacco products. The companies emphasize that tobacco growing relieves the overwhelming poverty and the Malawian government has been slow to encourage tobacco control measures. Ironically, for Malawians, tobacco equates with life.
Included in
Malawi’s Tobacco Paradox: Short Term Survival Versus Long Term Languish
Harkins 308
The past forty years have been tumultuous for tobacco companies facing increasingly stringent regulations in the northern hemisphere. To maintain profits, they have tapped into new markets in the developing world. One of these places, Malawi, an African nation with an economic dependence on tobacco growing, has been a target of their marketing prowess. This study provides a new perspective on the dichotomy that exists between short-term economic benefits and long-term health implications of tobacco in a poverty-ravaged nation.
Conflicting interests hinder tobacco regulation in Malawi. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that tobacco companies manipulate consumers and governments in order to increase consumption. Tobacco companies say that the WHO should focus on communicable diseases rather than interfering with developing nations’ autonomy. These competing voices distort facts regarding tobacco’s true effects in order to carry out their own agenda. This study explores three areas of concern that incite these conflicts: deforestation, child labor, and crop substitution.
This study also hypothesized that tobacco consumption in Malawi is increasing because of tobacco companies’ coziness with governments, advertising, and corporate philanthropy. Malawi’s economy depends on tobacco growing and sales for foreign exchange and jobs. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library proved to be invaluable by providing primary evidence as to how tobacco companies targeted Malawians to buy more tobacco products. The companies emphasize that tobacco growing relieves the overwhelming poverty and the Malawian government has been slow to encourage tobacco control measures. Ironically, for Malawians, tobacco equates with life.
https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2014/panelb3/1
