I'm Tulip Mazimdar, BBC Global Health correspondent, and this is Brenda Chitindi, a woman who for many years has dedicated herself to the public health of her country, Zambia.

The executive director of Tobacco Free Association of Zambia.

Brenda is 70 years old and lives in Lusaka, Zambia's capital.

The country is located in southern Africa and has a population of around 18 million people.

For the last 15 years, Brenda's life has been dominated by a mission to reduce smoking in Zambia.

I have that passion, a very big passion actually, to let the people know about the dangers of tobacco.

Brenda founded her organisation, the Tobacco Free Association of Zambia in 2009.

Since then, she's worked to spread awareness of the dangers of smoking amongst communities

and to push for greater regulation on the tobacco industry, taking on giant multinational corporations.

Tobacco is harmful to the health for human being.

Tobacco is one of the major causes of non-communicable diseases that eventually kill people.

The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco-related diseases kill 8 million people globally every year.

Throughout my lifetime, I've seen a reduction in smoking rates in the UK

where the link between tobacco use and the risks of cancer and heart disease are well known.

This is reflected in other countries too.

However, it isn't the same story everywhere.

In Zambia and several other African nations, smoking is on the rise.

The WHO predicts as many as 300,000 new smokers in Zambia by 2025.

Brenda Chichindi is among a cohort of activists hoping to stem the tide of this increase.

They see the rise of tobacco companies along with lack of awareness as the main drivers of the growth of smoking across Africa.

Roland Imperial Tobacco Company, transforming the finest Zambian tobacco into world-class tobacco product.

I'll be speaking to activists and experts, as well as hearing from the governments and the tobacco industry

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