Lay Summary

Continuing the cycle of the National Survey in order to assess the change in the prevalence of addiction over time. Aim of Study: to provide an accurate data on the current status of Addiction problems for fulfilling its primary aim of establishing “accessible” services covering the whole population with addiction problems in balanced way with proper geographical distribution.

Background

Since 1996, the research unit of the General secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment (GSMHAT) -The Ministry of Health (MOH) is responsible for conducting “The National Addiction Survey” which is responsible for epidemiological assessment of the substance abuse problem in Egypt. 2018, GSMHAT conducted the “Addiction mapping” which covered all the governorates at the same time and used unified tool to fulfill the house hold sample. It was aimed that the results of the national survey provide the proper size and distribution of the problem, which considered the first dimension of mapping the substance use disorders in Egypt shedding the light on the location of the areas that were more affected other.

Methods

A sample of 30000 household random samples was driven from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) with 27960 (93%) valid response. Standard quantitative measures were used guided by: the addiction severity index and research diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV TR for proper diagnosis of substance dependence and abuse. All the Egyptian governorates were covered. Field researchers were all social workers that were trained well in their home governorates and passed pilot assessment.

Results

The one year prevalence of substance abuse and addiction in Egypt varies substantially between governorates. In Egypt: Hashish and tramadol are the most common substances of abuse. Predictors of addiction include male gender, early adulthood. As expected the prevalence of substance use and addiction is much higher in males. However, there is a substantial proportion of women especially in large cities with this problem and they require dedicated treatment services. The relationship between lower levels of education. The distribution of addiction services in Egypt is quite variable with most of these specialized services concentrated in Giza and Alexandria.

Conclusion

Planning for a large scale study directed towards studying the treated from addiction population. Large study aiming at evaluating treatment modalities and its efficacy in order to generate national strategies for treatment of addiction.