THE STANDARD OPINION Far too many Africans die as a result of smoking. Few who try to stop smoking actually succeed. It’s clear that the ‘quit or die’ approach to tobacco control is not working on our continent, where cigarette consumption is on the rise in stark defiance of global trends. If we are serious about saving lives, we’d do well to look at how that fight is being won in other parts of the world. And that means rethinking the way we look at nicotine. Evidence shows that alternative nicotine products, such as tobacco-free pouches and e-cigarettes or vaping devices, can deliver nicotine with dramatically reduced risk compared to traditional ‘combustible’ cigarettes.