As tobacco addiction continues to invade the daily lives of many people, especially the youth, Morocco is gearing up to use this year’s “No Tobacco Day,” scheduled for May 31, as an opportunity to take stock of the progress the country has so far made in the fight against this public health problem.
This year’s World No Tobacco Day is celebrated under the theme “Let’s grow food, not tobacco.” The aim is to remind and warn about the dangers of smoking, which is the main cause of death and preventable diseases around the world.
Just last year, Morocco’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection indicated that “the prevalence of smoking in Morocco is 13.4% among adults over the age of 18, including 26.9% of men and 0.4% of women.”
According to the ministry, the prevalence of smoking is 6% among students aged from 13 to 15. Approximately 35.6% of the country’s population is exposed to passive smoking in public and professional places, which the ministry said constituted a strong indication that the prevention of smoking among young people has become a priority.
This comes as the fight against the illicit trade in tobacco products intensified in 2022 in Morocco, with police across the country seizing 19 million smuggled cigarettes last year alone, up from 760,000 units in 2021.
Meanwhile, a 2017 survey by “MedSPAD Morocco” on the use of psychoactive substances among school adolescents found that “tobacco remains the psychoactive product whose experimentation is the earliest among students aged 15-17.”
Given such alarming statistics about the prevalence of tobacco consumption among high school, college, and primary school students, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection has highlighted the importance of involving parents, schools, and civil society, in an awareness raising campaign to combat the use of tobacco among young Moroccans.
Such a campaign would mainly aim to prevent young people’s initiation to smoking, as well as assist smokers to quit smoking by highlighting the dire health consequences associated with tobacco consumption, the ministry suggested.
Emphasizing the implementation of strict legislation to protect non-smokers from exposure to tobacco smoke and ban smoking in public places, the ministry appeared to further suggest that World No Tobacco Day could be an opportunity to discuss the National Plan for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer 2020-2029.
The plan recommends the generalization of the “tobacco-free middle and high schools” program to all secondary education establishments, including in the private sector.
It also notably recommends the establishment of a “Tobacco-free college campuses” program.
