Taboos are falling away Despite these religious and legal safeguards, youth in Senegal are succumbing, bit by bit, to the industry's siren song. "Young people are smoking a lot of shisha [editor's note: hookah] which lends an aromatic and sweet taste to the tobacco. This is new, and it's worrisome," says Mamadou Bamba Sagna, regional coordinator of the American NGO Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids <https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/take_action/> in Dakar.
These water pipes, which are at least as likely as cigarettes to cause addiction, are helping to give tobacco use an acceptable and trendy image. And it's clear that in Dakar, the mindset is changing. Even Senegalese women are lighting up: according to a survey conducted in 2013, 6% of girls aged 13 to 15 years old were using tobacco products (along with 15% of boys). All you have to do is go to Médina, a working-class area, to see that it's true. "Before, people would hide it. Now, it's less taboo," explains Modou, an artist who goes by the name "Mod Boye". "More and more teens are smoking outside of the high schools." The young man, who runs a street artists' collective and knows the area like the back of his hand, greets everyone he meets. [image: medina in Senegal]In front of hundred-year-old buildings, a few sheep wander the quiet streets, and men sit on benches, leisurely chatting and smoking. Here, far from the main roads, people seems less concerned about religious dictates. "Everybody can afford cigarettes," Modou continues. You can buy one for 25 CFA francs [editor's note: approximately $0.05] in any shop." Only one? The practice is common and it's legal: merchants open the packs and sell the "smokes" individually. Sure enough, Modou hands a coin to the merchant on the corner, whose kiosk opens onto the street, and comes back with an Excellence cigarette (the local brand), "cheaper than Marlboros." Being able to buy cigarettes individually makes tobacco accessible for any budget, and makes it possible for the poor, for teens, and for children to smoke. And it's no less of a financial trap, in a country where monthly earnings average around $125. A number of WHO studies have shown that cigarettes can take up as much as 40% of a poor household's budget, thus reducing by just as much those resources remaining for the children's health, education and food, according to CRES researchers. A real barrier to development. "There is a pretty strong connection between tobacco and poverty. In addition to health issues, tobacco also comes with an opportunity cost: what could have been paid for instead? How much work time would be gained? What's more, in Senegal, families typically depend on a single breadwinner: if the breadwinner falls ill, the standard of living plummets," explains Nafissatou Baldé, economist and coordinator of the tobacco project launched by CRES in 2008.
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