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Radhouane Fakhfakh received his medical degree in 1989 from the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a Diploma in Tobacco Addiction from Paris XI-XII University; He is currently Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and smoking cessation expert. He is author of about fourteen papers in the field of public health especially in the field of tobacco control and tobacco addiction.
Introduction: The aim of the study is to describe the main challenges of tobacco control in Tunisia. Results: Tunisia has the top 10 worldwide tobacco use prevalence among men and the highest one in Africa. Furthermore, the tobacco use prevalence is more and more common among female and adolescents. In 2010, about quarter of deaths among men is caused by tobacco. More men die in Tunisia than on average in middle-income countries. The Tobacco-related Cancer Incident Cases will increase by 80% by 2030. While Tunisia adopted anti-tobacco law on 1998 and ratified the FCTC on 2010, effective action of tobacco control was not implemented. Socio cultural factors favoring smoking initiation, lack of awareness among the public about the smoking hazards, weak support of governments and strong resistance of the tobacco industry are major reasons for the lack of effectiveness of current tobacco control measures. Effective intervention efforts are urgently required. Firm actions would be taken. These actions include accelerating the adoption of a new proposed law, enforcing actual law and the new one once adopted, developing an advocacy and argument about the positive impact on state budget balance, increasing taxes, combating smuggling and illicit manufacturing and counterfeiting, increased education, increased smoking cessation support and implementing periodic surveillance. Conclusion: Effective tobacco control should be implemented urgently in Tunisia Commitments from government are crucial for this tobacco control actions. The international support is also needed.