Salah Participates in 5th Phase of "You are Stronger than Drugs" Campaign

The Ministry of Social Solidarity launched the fifth phase of "You are stronger than drugs" campaign, which includes three different ads with the participation of the national team star and English Liverpool player Mohamed Salah.

The first ad aims at raising awareness of the dangers of smoking, and the second at raising awareness of the dangers of drugs. The third focuses on social integration of drug addicts, and considers them as sick and not criminals, as long as they voluntarily offer treatment and help them return to the fabric of society.

Ghada Wali, the Minister of Solidarity, said that this campaign has achieved a great interaction at different stages, both domestic and international. At the local level, interaction with the previous stage of the campaign was more than 70 million interacting with social media.

At the international level, many international organizations have described it as a model for anti-drug campaigns, and the Ministry of Public Security in China has described it as an inspiring campaign to combat addiction and its translation into Chinese. The international media have praised it and devoted paragraphs to highlight it.

The number of callers to the addiction hotline rose by more than 400%, and the campaign helped many addicts to progress for treatment.

It has also benefited from addiction treatment services over the past three years (300,000 patients, a large number, and the development of treatment centers to become 23 centers now only 12 in 2014).

The minister pointed out that the fifth stage of the campaign has taken a new turn and deals with smoking as a problem that threatens the health of children in Egyptian society. The rate of smoking among secondary school students reached 12%.

The Ministry thanked all the campaigners and the Ambassador of the campaign "You are stronger than the drugs" Captain Mohammed Salah, who is participating in the campaign volunteers for the fourth year in a row, and closely follows its impact and return among children and youth at the local and international levels. Mohammed Salah came on the basis of a scientific approach, as he is considered as the most engaging sports personality; also, he is among the 100 most influential people in the world according to the magazine Time International.

Amr Osman, Director of the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction, said that this campaign was characterized by the integrated media structure and its persity in form and content. The campaign will rely on various media tools, whether through digital content, which achieved enormous interaction or traditional content through television, radio and road advertising.