American Cancer Society North Africa Smoke-free at Work Program Attracts Significant Media Coverage in Algeria and Tunisia

The Smoke-free at Work (in French, Travaillons sans fumée) program in North Africa, supported by the American Cancer Society, has received significant media coverage in the region recently as a result of an American Cancer Society media workshop. The training was held in Tunisia in late April for program participants, including cancer and tobacco control nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and tobacco control youth advocates from Algeria and Tunisia, who learned best practices in communications and media relations. Several journalists attended a session designed to provide them with information on their region's tobacco epidemic, as well as the Smoke-free at Work program and the role that media have played in similar campaigns around the world.
Since then, media coverage of the Smoke-free at Work program in Algeria and Tunisia has included 13 articles in print media (11 in French and two in Arabic), 16 radio interviews by NGO representatives, and two features on local television news stations. In addition, Awatef Dali, a well-known Tunisian reporter with her own health TV show, has taped and will air an upcoming episode featuring the Smoke-free at Work program; the show will include some footage of the youth advocates at the media workshop training and an interview by our coordinator in Tunisia, Dr. Wided Ben Ayoub. The program will air August 13 at 4:30 p.m. local Tunis time on channel 7 (a national channel).