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Faced with the scourge of smoking, a real public health problem, one of the priorities would be the implementation of concrete actions to support smokers in their withdrawal. This was indicated this Sunday by Abderrezak Bouamra, director general of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP).
On the occasion of an awareness and training meeting on smoking cessation, organized by the INSP and the Algerian Society of Pneumology (SAP) for the benefit of medical students, Professor Bouamra focused on the risks smoking on human health ensuring that the fight against this phenomenon is considered a priority.
While specifying that smoking is the main cause of lung cancer in men as well as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, Professor Bouamra noted an increasing rate of consumption in Algeria with a prevalence of 20 to more than 30% of the overall population.
For her part, the general secretary of the SAP, Professor Rachida Khellafi, indicated that the diagnosis of lung cancer due to smoking is made late due to the absence of typical symptoms, specifying that the only curative treatment recommended is surgery. . In addition to this type of cancer, as well as cardiovascular pathologies mainly induced by cigarettes, Professor Khellafi also cited chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) characterized by respiratory failure.
The same specialist called, on this occasion, medical students, in their capacity as future doctors, to give due importance to this issue in the exercise of their functions. At the end of these interventions, the results of two surveys carried out by the Faculties of Medicine of Algiers and Blida on the progression of the prevalence of smoking among the students of these two establishments were presented.
It should be noted that on the occasion of the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, the Minister of Health, Abdelhak Saihi, stressed that Algeria, aware of the health and societal issues linked to smoking, has made tobacco control a national priority. The country has “an appreciable legal arsenal”. He added that his department gave absolute priority to the protection of children against the scourge of smoking through the intensification of awareness campaigns.
For those under 15, field surveys have shown that more than 8% of children aged between 11 and 15 are smokers. Therefore, protecting children from the scourge of smoking is an absolute priority, as children are particularly vulnerable to messages from the tobacco industry and the dangers of second-hand smoke.
Several concrete actions to protect children from smoking have been put in place, in particular through the strengthening of awareness campaigns among young people which aim to inform them about the dangers of tobacco and to dissuade them from starting to smoke by encouraging them to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
In addition, health education programs have been implemented in schools. These programs allow students to acquire knowledge and skills to cope with social pressure and resist the urge to light the first cigarette. Workshops led by health professionals and educators allow students to understand the mechanisms of tobacco dependence and to develop strategies to resist the temptation to smoke in partnership with civil society.
Concerning the legal arsenal in force to fight against smoking, it is worth mentioning the health law 18/11 in section 4 relating to the fight against risk factors and the promotion of healthy lifestyles, in its articles 50 to 58 related to smoking.
These articles contain the prohibition of any form of sponsorship promotion and advertising in favor of tobacco products. It also concerns the ban on the sale of these to minors, the sanction by law of people who smoke in places assigned to collective use or welcoming the public, the affixing of specific warnings in the form of designs or pictograms emanating from the health authority, as well as the obligation for producers to affix labels which must bear information on the main toxic constituents and their emissions.