Tobacco dependence curricula in Middle Eastern and North African medical education

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. 1 Nearly 63% of men and 10% of women in Middle Eastern countries use tobacco. 2 In North Africa, approximately 19% of all adults smoke tobacco. 1 Public health efforts and the involvement of medical and health personnel have decreased smoking rates in most developed countries. 3 The WHO MPOWER package of policies and interventions recommended the involvement of physicians and other healthcare professionals in reducing the tobacco burden. 4 The package provides a reference model to implement tobacco control strategies that have been shown to reduce tobacco use. 4 Several studies have been conducted in Europe and the USA to investigate the proficiency of medical students in treating tobacco dependence. 5-10 Findings from two European medical schools indicated that teaching of smoking cessation methods is not a top priority in most medical curricula, and overall knowledge of long-term effectiveness of smoking cessation methods among students was poor. 8 In the USA, the results of a project conducted in 12 medical schools to assess and improve medical education showed that 36% of the courses included some tobacco information. 7 A recent web-based survey among the 4th year medical students in six New York City medical schools indicated that students had good knowledge on the harms of smoking, but required more integration of information on the benefits of smoking cessation and the treatment of tobacco dependence. 10 In medical schools of the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) regions, there is a general lack of information on how tobacco dependence and treatment is incorporated into the curriculum.