Most Kenyans who use vapes or nicotine pouches do so for health-related reasons, primarily to quit smoking deadly cigarettes, according to a major new survey unveiled on World No Tobacco Day.

If these safer alternatives were banned, almost half of users say they would go back to cigarettes and some would even end up smoking more often, the poll reveals.

Almost nine out of 10 believe that the Ministry of Health’s proposed graphic health warnings for vapes and pouches are misleading and will deter smokers from switching to safer alternatives, it concludes.

“These results show that vapes and nicotine pouches offer smokers their most effective escape route away from the cigarettes that will otherwise kill them,” said Joseph Magero, chairman of the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA), which conducted the survey.

“To restrict access to these products would deny smokers their best chance of quitting and would unnecessarily condemn them to premature death or disease. Instead of trying to scare smokers from switching to these safer alternatives, authorities should be trying to reduce the deadly toll of tobacco through evidence-based policymaking and risk-proportionate regulation.”

More than 300 Kenyan adults were questioned for the survey. Key findings include:

  •  64% of respondents have quit cigarettes or reduced the amount they smoke as a result of using vapes or nicotine pouches.
  • Five out of six users of nicotine pouches or vapes believe that proposed graphic health warnings (GHWs) for these products are misleading and would deter smokers from switching away from deadly cigarettes.
  • 58% or respondents believe that pouches are the best tool for quitting cigarettes, ahead of vapes (28%), health warnings (5%) and sin taxes (3%).
  •  If vape or pouches were banned, less than one in four users intends to give them up.
  • Most believe they will be able to find the products on the black market, while almost half are likely to go back to smoking cigarettes if a ban was implemented.

“The survey shows that users of vapes and pouches were SIX TIMES more successful at giving up cigarettes than those who tried to quit ‘cold turkey’,” Magero said. “There could not be a more powerful message on World No Tobacco Day: if we want to save people from cigarettes, we need to ensure that safer alternatives are accessible, acceptable and affordable to adult smokers.

“The Ministry of Health must listen to the voice of smokers who are desperate to quit: for the millions of Kenyans who smoke, vapes and nicotine pouches offer a lifeline they never had before.”

Campaign for Safer Alternatives is an international Pan-African non-governmental organisation dedicated to achieving 100% smoke-free environments in Africa. It is the unifying voice for consumer organisations advocating for tobacco harm reduction in Africa, promoting discussion and the exchange of information and potential actions to reduce exposure to tobacco-related harm.