WATANI International 26 September 2010
At last the Egyptian government may be getting tough on smoking. This means it will be gearing up to face the nation’s broad smoking lobby. For a decade or so, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has exerted a huge effort in cooperation with the Health Ministry to combat smoking in Egypt.
Egypt signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2000. In accordance, Law no.154 was passed in 2007 to ban smoking in public offices, educational and health facilities, youth centres and sports clubs. If managers of these offices failed to abide by the law, they would face a fine of EGP1000 to 20,000.
Shocking figures
Out of the world’s 6.9 billion people, a billion smoke while five million people lose their lives annually due to factors related directly or indirectly to smoking. In a move to put the WHO recommendations into practice, a survey on tobacco consumption was conducted for the first time in Egypt.
The survey, carried out by Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, shows that 20 per cent of Egyptians consume a tobacco product. About 16 per cent smoke cigarettes, 3.3 per cent shisha (water pipe) and 2.6 per cent chew tobacco—a relatively recent practice in Egypt. Among productive age groups (from 25 – 45), about 23 per cent consume tobacco; the ratio reaches 26 per cent of those aged 45 – 64. When it comes to university graduates, the figure is 16 per cent. Tobacco consumption is prevalent among 26 per cent of those who never complete their primary education. Among the surveyed group, 88 per cent consumed locally produced cigarettes, which are far cheaper than imported ones.
The average monthly expenditure on cigarettes amounts to some EGP110, while the average daily consumption for males amounts to a packet against half a packet for females.
The survey indicates that 0.6 per cent of Egyptian females consume tobacco, of whom 0.3 per cent smoke shisha. Among shisha smokers, 56 per cent smoke at home against 18 per cent in cafés, while 20 per cent share it with others—a practice that can cause infection with the hepatitis C virus as well as serious lung diseases, including cancer and Tuberculosis. In work places, 61 per cent of the work force are negative smokers. Ironically, 49 per cent of hospital, clinic and health centre visitors are negative smokers.
Tobacco-free town
The great majority of those covered by the survey said they were affected by shots showing people smoking cigarettes and shisha on cinema and TV screens. WHO and the Ministry of Health have repeatedly called on the Media Ministry to remove such scenes, but to no avail. On a different track, the renowned journalist and TV presenter Mahmoud Saad lashed out at the government when it raised the price of locally produced cigarettes, claiming it was one of the few things in life that are still sufficiently affordable for the poor to enjoy.
On 10 June 2010 Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali joined Alexandria governor Adel Labib to announce an initiative to declare Alexandria a tobacco-free city in two years. I was among the journalists invited to cover this landmark announcement. I seriously doubted that the public would accept such a move, since Alexandria is famous for its outdoor cafés across the Corniche—its seafront boulevard—in which shisha smoking constitutes one of the most popular pastimes. But the governor insisted the tobacco ban would be strictly imposed, no matter what.
Ramadan shisha
Last month was the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Muslims fast from dawn to sundown, after which they indulge themselves. In Alexandria, the seaside cafés fill to the brim with shisha smokers sipping juice, making talk, and watching TV. It intrigued me whether or not the shisha ban would be imposed. When I called Alexandria governorate to check, I was told that the ban was postponed till after Ramadan. Couldn’t help wondering if they were aware Ramadan would be back anyway next year—and the following years. Or was the idea to make an exception of the ban during Ramadan?
Inside smoker
On 29 July WHO and the Health Ministry called a press conference to launch the second group of health warnings printed on cigarette packages. Such warnings were first printed in 2008 as a requirement of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. A recent survey showed a positive impact of this labelling on persuading adults to give up smoking. It was found that the warnings affected 42 per cent of the surveyed group. When officials were asked about the method of choosing the photographs used, they said that a WHO website posted a number of photographs, and the ministries of health in the various countries chose what they found convenient.
Surprisingly, it was disclosed that the Health Minister’s media adviser was himself a smoker. One cannot help wondering: if the minister catches his media adviser smoking, will he fine him according to the law, or will he turn a blind eye?
Watani asked Ihab Attiya, general manager of environmental health at the Health Ministry, about the enforcement of the law banning smoking on public transportation. Dr Attiya said that everyone was entitled to take an offending smoker to a police station, where he or she would be forced to pay a fine. Yet the question is whether any smoker would accept voluntarily to go to the police station. I thought of trying to do just that; envisioned myself persuading [?] a smoker to [peacefully] accompany me to the police station to pay the fine. But the following scene was too risky to contemplate, he or she would at best laugh at my naivety and walk out, or at worst assault me; I would probably end up lying in a hospital bed.