Description of the African Cigarette Prices Project Data

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Economics
• Tobacco Control

Background:

• The African Cigarette Price Project (ACPP) collects crucial tobacco pricing data across African countries.
• Understanding tobacco price dynamics is vital for public health interventions and economic analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the methodology and scope of the ACPP's data collection on tobacco product prices in Africa.
• To provide insights into price variations across different tobacco products, brands, and geographical locations.

Main Methods:

• Collected over 215,354 individual tobacco prices biannually from 2016 to 2022 across 19 African countries.
• Employed a novel approach using University of Cape Town (UCT) students as fieldworkers for cost-effective data gathering at the retail level.
• Data covers cigarettes, hookah tobacco, snuff, pipe tobacco, cigars, e-cigarettes, and hand-rolled tobacco, with geographic detail down to the suburb level.

Main Results:

• Data from 19 African countries, with significant contributions from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia, and Botswana.
• Identified price differences across brands, urban/rural settings, packaging types, and retail outlets.
• While not nationally representative, the data offers valuable insights into price ranges and product availability.

Conclusions:

• The ACPP provides a simple, affordable, and scalable method for collecting retail tobacco price data in low- and middle-income countries.
• The collected data serves as an important resource for researchers, policymakers, and public health advocates aiming to understand and influence tobacco markets in Africa.