JEDDAH — After seven days of awareness-raising efforts among the growing number of women smokers, the Anti-Smoking Society in the Makkah Region concluded its campaign yesterday. The group focused on popular hangouts where Saudi women enjoy blowing smoke.
“We found the experience successful and women were aware and open to receiving advice and know more about the risks they are taking,” said Om Al-Hosn Al-Sharif, head of the women’s department at the society.
There are approximately 600,000 Saudi women that smoke, according to Dr. Abdullah Al-Badah, supervisor of the anti-smoking program at the Health Ministry.
During the first and second days of the campaign, women members of the society distributed flyers and brochures on Jeddah’s Corniche with facts about smoking and its dangers. They included information about smoking shisha (water pipe tobacco) as well. They stated that tobacco has 4,000 chemicals, 400 of which are toxic, 22 highly toxic and 40 of them carcinogenic.
The march that took place on the first and second days of the campaign was a first for women.
The campaign also reached schools. “A sixth grader in one of the schools started crying when we presented the dangers of smoking and showed videos of people who smoke and the diseases they developed. She said, ‘Is that what is going to happen to me? I will stop smoking’,” Al-Sharif said. “I like the way my lips look when I wear lipstick and have the cigarettes between them,” one of the girls they spoke to said.
During the campaign, members of the society said that the main reason for smoking among the youngsters is bad friends who challenge their peers to try smoking as a sign of freedom. “TV channels also promote the idea of smoking as they show pretty women wearing make-up smoking in a way that would encourage teenagers to apply what they see on TV,” said Al-Sharif. “If girls are concerned about their beauty, they should know that smoking is very bad for their skin as it causes early wrinkling,” she added.
The campaign targeted coffee shops in the evening where many Saudi women visit to smoke shisha.
Al-Sharif said that women were willing to change their bad habits. They were keen to learn about the anti-smoking clinic. The society has ongoing campaigns throughout the year and they coordinate with local schools.
