Health is our most valuable possession but it is also the easiest to lose. I was surprised to read about the number of female smokers around the world. Some 45 percent of smokers are women between the ages of 20 and 34. Women between those ages are, of course, often pregnant which means the effects of smoking on them and their children is also on the increase.
A report recently issued by the Council of GCC Health Ministers warns about the rising numbers of women smokers in the Kingdom. Women from the Eastern Province are 45 percent of the total number of Saudi Arabia’s women smokers. The report also stated that six percent of women who smoke are doctors.
I wonder why the percentage of Saudi women smokers is higher in the east than in the west or in Riyadh. Recent Health Ministry statistics revealed that more than SR15 billion cigarettes are smoked annually by Saudis; the total value of the cigarettes is SR633 million and this means Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest importer of cigarettes in the world.
We need to do more to fight smoking than merely banning it on flights. We should also reduce our imports of cigarettes and increase their prices. We need to rethink and redesign our smoking awareness campaigns since our present ones are demonstrably ineffective. And most important, we need to make the smoker feel guilty about smoking.
If women are smoking in order to relieve everyday pressures, then something is wrong since smoking has an adverse effect on both mothers and children. Society should come forward and encourage people to stop smoking. The problem is even worse when the last people we expect to be smokers — doctors and teachers — are some of the most addicted to the habit.
