Public's perception of policies reducing tobacco availability by regulating the tobacco retail environment: A case study in Egypt

The tobacco industry presence in the retail environment ensures its access to current and potential tobacco users. Reduction of tobacco retail is an emerging tobacco control measure. Many policies that would potentially lead to reduction in retail are not covered by international tobacco laws and are individually adopted in some jurisdictions. This study examines public perception on potential effect of suggested policies in one of the few countries where tobacco market is increasing, Egypt.

A cross-sectional online survey study was implemented in Egypt, June 2023 to March 2024 to assess the perception of the public towards 12 suggested policies that aim to reduce both tobacco availability and purchase by regulating the tobacco retail environment. The survey was disseminated through social media and 320 completed responses were received. Responses on perception followed five-point Likert scales.

Participants felt they could easily access tobacco products around places of residence, work, and study. The largest proportion of participants (53.1%) reported good agreement that the suggested policies would have an impact in reducing tobacco availability and retail, while 39.7% had fair agreement, and only 7.2% had poor agreement.

Most participants believe that policies reducing tobacco availability and sales would be effective. Non-users rated these policies as more effective than tobacco users. Younger adults viewed these policies more favorably than older adults. The study suggests public support for tobacco control measures to address the prevalent tobacco retail environment in Egypt, indicating a need for policymakers to adopt these measures to protect future generations. Additional research using larger randomly selected populations in Egypt is needed to corroborate these results.