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Wednesday, 13 August, 2025
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Experts push for harm reduction policies

Harm reduction – in multiple forms, from safer smoking alternatives to sunscreens to wearing seatbelts – was high on the agenda at a recent Johannesburg women’s wellness event where medical practitioner and consultant Dr Esthras Moloko appealed to delegates to “live by example”, reports TimesLIVE.

Speaking at The Wellness Collective, a gathering focused on shifting South Africa from selling harm to promoting wellness, he said that by “blending compassion with science, inclusion with transparency, urgency with innovation, we can unlock healthier futures for every South African woman and man and their families”.

“From sunscreens to seat belts, innovations to reduce harm caused by certain behaviours and activities must be woven into our everyday lives,” he said.

Moloko added that inclusive, transparent and timely regulation could unlock the full potential of harm reduction, not only for tobacco addiction, but also for challenges like sugar overconsumption, alcohol misuse, and more.

“Regulation is one of the tools that we must use against co-incurring and non-co-incurring diseases. By embedding these inclusive, transparent and timely regulation principles, and applying them across multiple domains of addictions and addictive behaviours, government, business, and various centres can deliver significant health gains.

“They can protect the vulnerable populations and uphold the spirit of those who, like the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, call for harm reduction.”

And on the issue of tobacco, Gauteng MPL and former Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku also urged deeper engagement on harm reduction, pointing to the example of a pregnant woman who smokes but cannot quit entirely.

“So, it’s just a matter that maybe scientists must take a more serious approach on the alternatives on addiction itself,” he said.

Parliament is continuing public hearings on the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, and independent scientists and medical practitioners have already told the Portfolio Committee on Health that harm reduction is grounded in science and offers safer alternatives to smoking.

Africa leading

Dr Vivian Manyeki, a public health physician and epidemiologist at Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest referral hospital in East and Central Africa, said she would like to see a future in which Africa leads with its own context-driven health policies, shaped by lived experiences, local expertise and innovation.

“We’ve stopped using frameworks that work in another country and we’ve brought ours, we’ve made ours, and we’ve incorporated all those groups … we are saying we want to go to the table. We are using new artificial intelligence technologies. We are using the new styles. We are using evidence-based approaches, and taking experiences and master stories to build the frameworks for the policies.

“I’d like to see a future where we don’t have to remind people what harm reduction is. We don’t have to define it. Let it be something that people know. They know that wearing a safety belt is a harm reduction practice. Using a condom is a harm reduction practice. I want a future where we tell people it is OK to use these products as part of harm reduction strategies,” she said.

 

TimesLIVE article – Health advocates push for harm reduction in smoking alternatives (Restricted access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Vapes not safer than tobacco, says expert

 

Former global health chief slams SA tobacco legislation

 

Activists flag serious health risks as sugar tax increase is delayed again

 

No seatbelts causing brain trauma crisis for South African children

 

South Africa’s top’s world misery list in foetal alcohol syndrome

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