The RADA Industry Interference Monitoring and Response Orientation Platform (RIIMROP) Launch

On August 21st, 2025 at the the United International Hotel, Yaoundé, the RADA Industry Interference Platform was launched. History has been made with this site that is aimed at ensuring that policies that are designed to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) remain free from negative corporate influence. The overall goal of this site is to promote transparency and accountability by monitoring industry interference and actions around policies. In attendance for this event were over 55 people from several sectors of development, we had representatives from the Ministry of public Health (MINSANTE), World Health Organization (WHO), Agency for Norms and Standards (ANOR), Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINMIDT), the Cameroon NCD Alliance (CNCDA), Media, Nexinch, the RADA Team and other civil society organizations.

In the opening remarks, the CEO of RADA, Ferdinant M. Sonyuy, said that RADA was delighted to join everyone in Cameroon to promote healthy lifestyles. With an overview of the organization with its vision and mission, he spoke about the Healthy Eating Program of RADA that has birth the development of this site. In his remarks, he provided statistics on NCDs worldwide and in Cameroon, and appreciated the Ministry of Public Health, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator -GHAI, and Resolve to Save Lives for their collaboration and support. “Industry interference is a key issue that Cameroon needs to pay attention to,” Said Ferdinant. In his words, he said, “at the end of the session, the hope is to assist the relevant stakeholders to understand this interference and be able to counter it for the sake of the population.”

Professor Jean-Claude Mbanya, the Chair of the CNCDA, presided this ceremony, and provided a few key remarks, first he emphasized on the data Mr. Sonyuy presented and said this “unless there are joint forces to curb the influence of industry, the next generation will not be saved from NCDs”. He highlighted the benefits of Healthy Food Policies, “it is necessary to make noise about the norms so that it should become law. RADA is giving a platform to be able to identify those who will be working against this; it is important to know the impact of this.”

The WHO representative Dr Danielle Simnoue supported this initiative and said it will eventually reduce the death rate from NCDs in Cameroon. She said the taxation and Front of Package Warning Labels (FoPWLs) are very important as it is recommended by the WHO and are in line with the 3rd Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the WHO. She further reaffirmed their support to RADA throughout this advocacy.

The last remark came from Nicole Ide, from Resolve to Save Lives. She spoke about the rise of NCDs due to poor diets and processed products and also stated that food policy is a human right issue, and went ahead to talk about policies that are helpful to reduce the availability of these packaged products, and focused on Front of Package Warning Labels (FoPWLs). She said these labels are gaining momentum worldwide as many countries are adopting them. “Industry is out for profit, and they will always stand against such policies, and we have to safeguard against this interference by ensuring these policies are based on scientific evidence, use a strong nutrient profile, among others.” To conclude, Nicole said the industry will always resist; it is not unique to Cameroon, but we need to save lives and look above the profit level.

The next key session that followed was the presentation on Understanding Industry Interference- the industry playbook. This session focused on unveiling the different industry tactics, to resist and deny the implementation of healthy food policies, such tactics include;

• Threatening and challenging governments that have passed the tax.
• Defaming evidence to distort tax
• Stigmatizing the SB tax.
• Taking advantage of and using vulnerable populations and environmental concerns to imply that the products are good for health, avoid tax or make an argument for the right choice.

The ways to mitigate such tactics were to;

• Protect the tax design
• Safeguard the policy decision-making process
• Leverage CSOs' opportunities

Before the launch, the web developer Momene Vigal, explained how to access the site, the information on the site, how to create an account, how to report and the validation process to be done by the admin.

The floor for question and answer session was opened, comments and clarifications about the site given. The next key segment of this launch, was the actual launch of the site, Professor Mbanya came up and pressed the Live button but before he did, he said “This is an innovative initiative for Cameroon, and if used right will be of great benefit to us. The community needs to be aware of this site so as to help.”

In conclusion, there is a need for a strong political will, advocacy, media support, and regional body support. More remarks came from the representative from MINSANTE and the chair of the CNCDA. The call to action was, for MINMIDT to move on with the FoPWL project without industry interference and the media should spread the word as they have a really strong role to play.

Prepared by: Ngueubou N. Merveille