JEDDAH, 28 May 2008 — This year’s World No-Tobacco Day, which takes place annually on May 31, is aiming to stop smoking among youth under the theme “Tobacco-Free Youth”.
“Tobacco companies are targeting youth, especially young girls, in their advertisements,” Dr. Tawfik Khoja, director general of the Executive Board of the Council of Health Ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The companies spend billions of dollars every year on marketing to expand their customer base.
The theme of the day, according to Khoja, focuses on developing countries where 80 percent of world’s youth live.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 700 million, or almost half of the world’s children, breathe air polluted by secondhand smoke. In almost all cases they have no choice in the matter, as they are unable to protest or protect themselves.
According to the International Labor Organization, 200,000 laborers die annually due to the exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke at their work places, not to mention the economic loss. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke costs the United States over $5 billion in indirect medical expenses.
GCC states ratified in recent years an anti-smoking agreement and issued the Gulf plan and strategy to execute it.
“The plan is to decrease the rate of smokers in the GCC by a percentage that each country determines,” he said.
The estimated period to carry out the plan is nine to 10 years. The Kingdom signed the agreement in May 2005.
“It is important to deal with the problem in a collective effort by governmental and non-governmental organizations,” Khoja said. “More awareness campaigns should run at schools, factories and universities, smoking bans should be applied in public places and new clinics should be opened to help people quit the habit.”
Saudi Arabia ranks fourth in the world in tobacco imports and consumption. Saudis smoke more than 15 billion cigarettes worth $168 million every year.
