Completely tobacco-free universities in Tunisia

Since January 2, 2024, smoking has been prohibited in all premises of university establishments in Tunisia. Several actions to help with smoking cessation and raise awareness accompany this ban. This measure recalls the importance of protecting young people and places of education from smoking, both active and passive.

It was on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, May 31, 2023, that a charter for the fight against tobacco was signed in Tunisia. The head of government then brought together nine of her ministers to set up multisectoral coordination of the fight against tobacco.[1]. This included bringing Tunisia into compliance with the directives of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organization (WHO), and to take concrete measures. With 13,200 deaths attributed to it in 2019, smoking represents 20% of the causes of mortality in Tunisia and weighs on the country's economic development.

One of these measures was the subject of a circular published on August 24, 2023. This aims to enforce the smoking ban in all university establishments in Tunisia and came into force on January 2, 2024.[2]. A decree of November 1998 in fact prohibited smoking in places of education, but was poorly enforced and authorized spaces reserved for smokers.

The smoking ban applies to all university premises

The smoking ban concerns all places of Tunisian universities, within the premises whether inside the premises or outside them. Offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, laboratories, university restaurants, but also corridors, halls, toilets, gardens and foyers are expressly designated as tobacco-free places. Signs prohibiting smoking must be installed visibly and in sufficient number. Offenders are exposed on the one hand to disciplinary sanctions, on the other hand to the criminal sanctions provided for by the law of February 23, 1998. Electronic cigarettes, although their use is growing in North Africa, are not mentioned to this extent and seem poorly regulated in Tunisia.[3].

In parallel with this measure to protect students and university staff from the risks of passive smoking, awareness campaigns on the risks of this exposure to passive smoking and to encourage people to stop smoking will be deployed. Events will be organized by cultural clubs in university premises to raise public awareness. Seminars and scientific events, organized in collaboration with school and university medicine, should relay them.

Universities, places which should be, in principle, tobacco-free

A study published in 2022 indicated that the three quarters of young Tunisians were exposed to passive smoking, including in educational establishments[4]. In June 2023, Hatem Bouzaiene, president of the Tunisian Alliance Against Tobacco, indicated that 30 % of minors and 50 % of men are smokers, making Tunisia one of the Arab countries with the most smokers[5]. Along with all other places of education, university establishments are nevertheless among the sites identified by the decree of November 1998 as having to be tobacco-free. Universities are also workplaces and must protect all of their employees, well beyond the classroom.

One of the new features of this measure is to include outdoor and uncovered spaces in universities. The inclusion of outdoor places within the scope of the smoking ban is increasing in many countries. In France, initiatives municipal have developed in recent years, particularly around educational establishments. On the basis of these local experiences, a generalization of this smoking ban around all educational establishments was thus integrated into the new National Tobacco Control Program 2023-2027 (PNLT), published in November 2023.

Keywords: Tunisia, universities, smoking ban, passive smoking

©Tobacco Free Generation

M.F.

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[1] WHO-Eastern Mediterranean Region, Meeting of the ministerial group for tobacco control in Tunisia, accessed January 8, 2024. [2] Ben Mansour L, Tunisia adopts strict measures to eradicate cigarettes in universities, Yaluna, published January 3, 2024, accessed January 8, 2024. [3] Jirjees F, Dallal Bashi YH, Kharaba Z, Ahmadi K, Barakat M, AlObaidi H. Public awareness, prevalence, and regulations for the sale of electronic cigarettes in Arab countries: A narrative review. Tob Induc Dis. 2023 Oct 27;21:143. [4] Ayedi Y, Harizi C, Skhiri A, Fakhfakh R. Linking Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC): The case for Tunisia. Tobacco Induced Diseases. 2022;20(January):7. doi:10.18332/tid/143994. [5] Smoking: frightening figures for children and adolescents!, Business News, published June 2, 2023, accessed January 8, 2024 National Committee Against Smoking |