TV drama series with addiction, smoking scenes to be blacklisted

CAIRO – 29 March 2018: A protocol was signed between the Fund for the Fight against Addiction and Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation to decrease addiction and smoking scenes in Ramadan series, said Director of the fund Amr Osman.

This was during a meeting convened by the WHO expert committee to set an international strategy to fight promotion for tobacco products; Assistant to the Minister of Social Solidarity Osman participated in the meeting.

The meeting, held in India on Thursday, tackled the effects of tobacco and advertising its use on social media.

Osman, a representative for the Middle East and North Africa region, reviewed during the meeting the violations made by tobacco companies in Egypt in the last four years and the measures taken by the fund to combat smoking and addiction in Egypt.

Osman added that smoking rates among women reached 15 percent in 2017, compared to 23.3 percent in 2014.

In the same context, the World Health Organization (WHO) formed an international expert committee from Egypt, India, Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil to develop measures to combat new marketing strategies followed by tobacco companies.

This came as part of the efforts made by the Fund for the Fight against Addiction led by Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly to fight smoking and addiction in Egypt especially in drama series; series that include smoking and addiction scenes will be blacklisted.

Waly declared during the inauguration of the Fund for the Fight against Addiction on July 10, 2017, that 7.7 percent of secondary school students take drugs, 12.8 percent smoke, and 8.3 percent drink alcoholic beverages.

Waly added that these results were derived from the National Survey on Smoking and Drug Addiction among secondary school students, which was conducted on a sample of 5,048 students from 13 cities from all Egyptian governorates.

The fund provides free treatment and counseling sessions. The fund is also launching a new initiative called “New Beginning”, in collaboration with Nasser Social Bank, to grant loans for recovered patients, allowing them to start small projects.

Previously, Osman said that more rehabilitation centers, which will provide free addiction treatment, are under construction. Two centers in Sharkeya and Dakahleya governorates will be inaugurated soon.