Jean-Philippe Mandiamé

Jean-Philippe Mandiamé is leading an anti-smoking/pro-health movement among Senegalese youth in the belief that basic information on the deleterious effects of tobacco smoking will deter many young people from indulging in this dangerous and addictive habit.

Jean-Philippe Mandiamé’s organization, Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal, operates campaigns to educate the Senegalese public—especially youth—about the health risks of tobacco use, to protect nonsmokers from the dangers of second-hand smoke and to reduce the consumption of tobacco products in Senegal. “Since it is easier to educate a young person than an old one,” says Jean-Philippe, “we are educating youth as the first step towards changing the habits of society.” Building beyond its origins against tobacco, Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal is growing into a broad pro-health youth movement.

Jean-Philippe knows that young people and children are primary targets for cigarette advertising. He concentrates his efforts on educating school children before they are fully exposed to the nefarious effects of cigarette advertisements and peer pressure that can so easily seduce young impressionable minds. Armed with information about the health effects of smoking, Jean-Philippe organizes volunteer “cells” of schoolchildren who undertake veritable crusades within schools, clubs, parks and offices to heighten awareness about the health dangers of smoking. The student volunteers educate their peers, who in turn bring the information home to educate their families.

Jean-Philippe is gradually expanding the anti-tobacco movement toward the creation of “circles of well-being.” The first step here has been the broadening of the education efforts of young volunteers to include an array of public health themes of particular relevance to youth, such as HIV/AIDS, family planning and sexually transmitted diseases.

Tobacco is the drug most frequently used and most widely distributed in the world today. Analysis of the product and fumes shows that they contain toxic substances of which the most dangerous substances are carcinogenic tar, nicotine (a highly addictive and

dangerous toxin) and carbon monoxide. Tobacco use causes approximately 2-2.5 million deaths around the world annually. Children who grow up in homes where family members smoke on a regular basis are twice as likely to suffer from respiratory, ear and throat infections.

According to World Health Organizations figures, most smokers begin smoking before they reach the age of eighteen and, on average, become addicted by the age of twelve. At age thirteen, the average smoker begins to smoke on a daily basis and is on the way to becoming a smoker for life.

As tobacco consumption decreases in the industrialized countries of the North, countries of the South have become a major target for transnational tobacco corporations seeking new markets. There is a general lack of health information available in these regions of the world. Barely enforced restrictions on the marketing and sale of tobacco products provide minimum impediments to exporters who deliberately sell more addictive tobacco products (with a higher content of tar and nicotine) than those sold in the more regulated environments in North America and Europe.

Currently, cigarette smoking presents a growing appeal to African youth. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are invested annually in cigarette advertising in Africa targeting youth. One common approach projects an alluring depiction of Western culture and consumer pleasure and associates a jet-setting “good life” with young, sophisticated African smokers. Transnational tobacco companies are highly visible patrons of most sporting, musical and cultural events produced for young people, and on many occasions, tobacco company representatives illegally distribute free cigarettes to young people frequenting evening cultural events and dances.

Informal surveys in Senegal have shown that minors can and all too often do purchase tobacco products at virtually all street corner booths.

On the other hand, very little information and statistical data exist about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking on health. The general public is informed about neither the addictive nature of nicotine nor the danger of death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases related to smoking. In fact, increased cigarette consumption presents a major health problem in a country with a fragile and deteriorating health care system and limited financial resources to deal effectively with burgeoning health needs.

The problem of public ignorance of health risks carries far further than those related to smoking. An effective public health education model could save millions of lives and conserve scarce health resources in the Sahel.

Jean-Philippe’s strategy inspires and organizes the youth themselves to get out the word about smoking and other dangerous activities. It works because it is well organized, it’s fun for the kids and there is a fundamental respect for good health and healthy living in Senegal’s predominantly Muslim religious culture. Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal youth groups promote and reflect healthy, social, active lives. Smokers are portrayed as unhealthy, anti-social and passive (victims of advertising). The risks of unsafe sex and the ethics of sexual power relations are discussed and positive alternatives are considered.

The Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal structure itself is simple and effective. To help the young people involved in Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal gain respect from adults, Jean-Philippe has assembled an advisory board of eminent doctors and university professors, and registered the group as a formal nonprofit association. Typically, the first contact is through the highly successful program “Tobacco or Health: the Choice for Youths,” which brings advisory board members into schools to present an anti-smoking message using an excellent slide show that Jean-Philippe has assembled. The students are encouraged to get involved using discussion groups and competitions in which their effectiveness in explaining the dangers of tobacco to their peers is judged and awarded. The students are then invited to form “cells” of Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal and to begin to champion the anti-tobacco message. This methodology is increasingly now applied to combat AIDS as well.

The cells are lively affairs that Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal facilitates with information about tobacco, ideas for activities and campaigns, organizational and material support. For example, the movement has printed “Thank You for Not Smoking” stickers. In a culture where it is considered rude to ask a guest or visitor to refrain from smoking, these stickers are in high demand. Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal members post the stickers in prominent public places all over the Dakar area, including offices, clinics, shops, dormitories, homes and pharmacies (where customers often smoke while waiting for the prescriptions necessitated by their smoking!).

The cells are encouraged to enter the public policy debate through writing letters to the media and the Minister of Health and the National Assembly. They call for restrictions on the sale of tobacco and other legislative reforms. They also prepare and distribute literature outlining existing laws and pressure the national tobacco monopoly to enforce the laws that do exist.

In order to improve the organization’s base of relevant information and statistics, Jean-Philippe has developed a research agenda. He plans studies investigating the incidence of

smoking in Senegal, the effects of second hand smoke, tobacco company advertising and promotion activities and the impact of current anti-smoking laws. He will use this information to broaden the impact of the anti-tobacco message. He is preparing similar research plans relating to the difficult-to-reach sexual behavior and attitudes.

With more than 300 active members in Dakar and its immediate environs, Jean-Philippe is turning his attention to expanding the program to reach schools in the nine other regions of Senegal. There are currently 80 anti-tobacco cells and 57 anti-AIDS cells located in schools, universities, the policing academy and at local religious, sporting and cultural associations. The local religious, sporting and cultural associations are particularly important in Jean-Philippe’s outreach to children who are not in the school system. He hopes that regionally based Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal chapters will become autonomous groups with as little direction from Dakar as possible.

Jean-Philippe’s push to broaden Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal’s work to issues such as AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and family planning is succeeding. He estimates that new chapters are devoting as much as 65 percent of their time to AIDS issues. This is a major achievement in a society where youth sexuality is a taboo issue.

Jean-Philippe has been very successful in gaining print, radio and television coverage for the movement’s work, something that he believes is a key factor in its geographic expansion. As a result of national media coverage in Senegal, Jean-Philippe was approached by groups in Burkina Faso and Mali interested in starting Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal programs in those countries. The movement in Mali is now up and running, as is the movement in Burkina Faso, both with support from Movement Anti-Tabac-Senegal.

Born and raised in modest circumstances in the Casamance region of Senegal, at an early age Jean-Philippe was sent away to study at a local Jesuit school. He later studied at the mission of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at Zinguichor. His chief role models were the mission’s priests and brothers, whose dedication to voluntary charitable works in poorer communities inspired Jean-Philippe to later volunteer for a Canadian religious organization. Their personal sacrifice and devotion to the public interest are a lingering influence on Jean-Philippe, who tries to display the same determination and dedication to his Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal activities.

After winning a scholarship to study in France, Jean-Philippe was shocked to discover upon arrival that his funds had been diverted summarily and without explanation. He did not give up, however, and worked part-time to pay his way through college in France. He

continued his studies at the University of Dakar. In order to improve Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal’s operations, he completed a part-time course in management at Senegal’s National School for Administration and Magistrature.

A smoker during his high school years, Jean-Philippe continued to smoke heavily as a young adult. The ridicule of some American friends while on a camping trip and a subsequent near-fatal brush with pneumonia provoked him to learn about and reflect upon the adverse effects of tobacco smoking. Even though still a young man, he came to the realization that if he had known of this vital information as a child he might never have begun smoking. This led him to focus his energies on educating other young people.

Jean-Philippe has won national recognition and international acclaim for his work. In 1994, Mouvement Anti-Tabac-Senegal won the World Health Organization’s International Anti-Tobacco Medallion.