Knowledge, attitudes and practice with regard to the articles of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control among Egyptian adults

Objectives: Egypt signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003, and it was ratified by the Egyptian Parliament in February 2005. Although most of the articles of the FCTC are reflected in Egyptian law and regulations, enforcement is rare for many reasons. The aim of the study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practice toward the FCTC among Egyptian adults. Methods: Cross-sectional survey with an interview questionnaire about knowledge, attitudes and practice as regards the FCTC among 2941 people from them 1584 smokers (97% men, 3% women) in two governorates of Egypt. Results: The prevalence of smoking varied, being higher among men (97%) than women (3%) and was higher among adults under the age of 55 years. Most smokers (74%) knew that smoking by children and adolescents was not allowed, and that tobacco contains tar and nicotine, which are hazardous to health. Half of the smokers were unaware of the presence of warning signs on boxes. Most smokers knew that advertising of cigarettes is not allowed (66.8%), the media do not advocate for smoking prevention (67.8%), not enough information is given about its hazards (64.3%), and there is no media campaign against smoking (83.9%). Most smokers (62.2%) considered that there is no active strategy against smoking, and 77.3% said that there was no Government policy against smoking. Half the smokers (50.4%) thought that people in the community were not interested in smoking prevention, and medical personnel should help; 70.7% concluded that little was being done to prevent smoking. Conclusion: The data from this study could be used as a baseline for future evaluations of tobacco control programmes implemented by the Ministry of Health of Egypt.