30 April 2010
Smoking kills 6,000 men and 850 women each year in Tunisia, but a national campaign to end the deadly habit is not making the desired progress.
Tunisia's campaign to snuff out smoking has yet to succeed, with just 3,500 of the country's estimated 4 million smokers calling it quits in 2009.
The national five-year anti-smoking campaign began last year. Despite efforts to channel smokers into clinics and laws that punish lighting up in places like cafés, health officials' statistics show that 500 more people kicked the habit in 2008 than did in 2009.
"The laws and these intensive awareness campaigns can't achieve the desired results without new psychological and sociological studies that show the real reasons why Tunisians, especially young people, smoke a lot of cigarettes and ignore its impact on their well-being", one smoker, Mouez, told Magharebia.
Tunisia is the leading Arab country in terms of smoking, with 35% of the population consuming an average of 17 cigarettes per person each day, according to a 2008 WHO study. The country's anti-smoking campaign aims to ensure that smokers make up only 10% of the population, while also protecting non-smokers and enforcing a smoking ban in public places.
Smoking is the direct cause of the deaths of 6,000 men and 850 women each year in Tunisia, according to a study by the National Institute of Public Health.
Tunisians contacted by Magharebia offered a range of views about the campaign's lack of progress.
"It's better to focus on raising awareness starting with the family, rather than with the schools, and use the media", said Kawtar, a young smoker. "Free clinics should be explicitly for quitting smoking."
"The campaign has failed, and Tunisians are tired of laws that mimic French laws," said another smoker, Mohammed. "Even if the laws as they're designed are severe, they're void or forgotten after a while."
The national anti-smoking campaign has come up short because of a lack of firmness in applying the law, but it could be effective if the law was applied strictly and violators were punished, he added.
Tunisia's law barring smoking in cafés and setting aside areas for non-smokers has been in force since March 19th. Owners in several Tunis cafés, however, say that inspections have not yet begun.
The Ministry of Health has managed to secure smoking bans in various public areas, such as its own premises, as well as in schools, auditoriums and stadiums.
In addition, 17 clinics in most regions of the country have been designated as places to help smokers quit. Moreover, the campaign organisers have involved members of civil society in awareness-raising.
"My department is committed to implementing the law and making all of its 500 officers available to the anti-smoking campaign," the director of the Health Ministry's environmental health unit, Mabrouk Nazeef, told Magharebia. "Of 7,649 visits [to businesses to enforce the law] 5,048 warnings were issued as well as five proposals for shutting down businesses".
Nazeef added that so far, 1,305 businesses have acted in response to the new law's provision requiring cafés and restaurants to set aside half of their space for non-smokers.
By Houda Trabelsi
© Magharebia.com 2010
Smoking kills 6,000 men and 850 women each year in Tunisia, but a national campaign to end the deadly habit is not making the desired progress.
Tunisia's campaign to snuff out smoking has yet to succeed, with just 3,500 of the country's estimated 4 million smokers calling it quits in 2009.
The national five-year anti-smoking campaign began last year. Despite efforts to channel smokers into clinics and laws that punish lighting up in places like cafés, health officials' statistics show that 500 more people kicked the habit in 2008 than did in 2009.
"The laws and these intensive awareness campaigns can't achieve the desired results without new psychological and sociological studies that show the real reasons why Tunisians, especially young people, smoke a lot of cigarettes and ignore its impact on their well-being", one smoker, Mouez, told Magharebia.
Tunisia is the leading Arab country in terms of smoking, with 35% of the population consuming an average of 17 cigarettes per person each day, according to a 2008 WHO study. The country's anti-smoking campaign aims to ensure that smokers make up only 10% of the population, while also protecting non-smokers and enforcing a smoking ban in public places.
Smoking is the direct cause of the deaths of 6,000 men and 850 women each year in Tunisia, according to a study by the National Institute of Public Health.
Tunisians contacted by Magharebia offered a range of views about the campaign's lack of progress.
"It's better to focus on raising awareness starting with the family, rather than with the schools, and use the media", said Kawtar, a young smoker. "Free clinics should be explicitly for quitting smoking."
"The campaign has failed, and Tunisians are tired of laws that mimic French laws," said another smoker, Mohammed. "Even if the laws as they're designed are severe, they're void or forgotten after a while."
The national anti-smoking campaign has come up short because of a lack of firmness in applying the law, but it could be effective if the law was applied strictly and violators were punished, he added.
Tunisia's law barring smoking in cafés and setting aside areas for non-smokers has been in force since March 19th. Owners in several Tunis cafés, however, say that inspections have not yet begun.
The Ministry of Health has managed to secure smoking bans in various public areas, such as its own premises, as well as in schools, auditoriums and stadiums.
In addition, 17 clinics in most regions of the country have been designated as places to help smokers quit. Moreover, the campaign organisers have involved members of civil society in awareness-raising.
"My department is committed to implementing the law and making all of its 500 officers available to the anti-smoking campaign," the director of the Health Ministry's environmental health unit, Mabrouk Nazeef, told Magharebia. "Of 7,649 visits [to businesses to enforce the law] 5,048 warnings were issued as well as five proposals for shutting down businesses".
Nazeef added that so far, 1,305 businesses have acted in response to the new law's provision requiring cafés and restaurants to set aside half of their space for non-smokers.
By Houda Trabelsi
© Magharebia.com 2010
