JEDDAH, 21 February 2007 — Makkah Gov. Prince Abdul Majeed urged all government departments and educational institutions to participate in the third national anti-smoking campaign planned for March.
Fahd Al-Sulaimani, head of the Eman Association for Cancer Patients, which is organizing the campaign, said the prince has called for participating sectors to hold awareness exhibitions and lectures in schools and shopping malls and to organize a marathon for students to ensure the reach of the campaign’s message
This year’s campaign is titled “A Smoke-Free Family Prevents Cancer” and should take place in the first half of March.
Al-Sulaimani said that more than a million flyers addressing the negative effects of smoking would be printed and distributed throughout the country, along with 50,000 cassettes.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website, the Kingdom has ratified the world’s first tobacco control treaty in an effort to reduce the 15 billion cigarettes smoked every year in Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom has been anxious to promote an anti-smoking message to the country’s population as the habit is too readily accepted as part of daily life throughout Saudi Arabia. Smoking is common not only in the workplace, but also in shopping malls, supermarkets and on public transport.
Sheesha, or water pipe, smoking is increasingly popular amongst the Kingdom’s young people, especially women.
A recent Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) report on the region’s smoking habits claimed that the Kingdom inhales more than SR633 million (US$169 million) every year, a cost that in turn kills some 23,000 from smoking-related diseases annually.
The capital city Riyadh alone accounts for 35 percent of the country’s smokers. Earlier this year, the Kingdom, with the other GCC member states, increased the tax on tobacco products by 150 percent. The Gulf region imports some 65 billion cigarettes every year.
