Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumptionOn 10 May 2016 in Cairo, the WHO country office in Egypt celebrated World No Tobacco Day, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ain Shams University, and declared the Faculty of Medicine of Ain Shams University a smoke-free facility and the first governmental educational facility to implement a policy to protect people from tobacco smoke.
The event was held in the Faculty of Medicine of Ain Shams University and was attended by the WHO Representative for Egypt Dr Jean Jabbour, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Dr Mahmoud El Meteny and Ministry of Health of Egypt representative Dr Omima Ez El Din. Also in attendance were faculty professors, students and employees who have volunteered to work on the initiative.
The main objective of the event was to publicize the adoption of the smoke-free policy by the Faculty. The new scholastic year 2016 will represent the start of this new initiative, a policy based on a bylaw passed by the Dean of the Faculty. The implementation of this new smoke-free policy and its success will be a model to replicate in all other educational and health facilities in Egypt.