Tobacco News and Interesting Information

Health Affairs Management in cooperation with Primary Health Care Management, and the Anti-Smoking Program at the Ministry of Health will on Sunday launch a campaign against smoking under the theme "Yes for the warning pictures on cigarette packs, and no for misleading words."

The new campaign at the Red Sea Mall aims to raise the awareness of having warning pictures on every cigarette packet.

The purpose of the campaign to coincide with the World No-Tobacco Day (May 31) is to educate the community in general and the decision-makers in particular about the health dangers posed by cigarettes," said Abdulrhman Al-Sahafi, Public Relations Manager at Jeddah Health Affairs Management.

Throughout the world, he said, governments are putting pressure on cigarette companies to graphically describe the dangers of smoking" said Dr. Mnal Shams, Anti-Smoking Program organizer at the Ministry of Health.

The campaign is also in line with the recent World Health Organization rules to curb the smoking habit. "Having such warning pictures will play a very important role in decreasing the number of smokers around the world," he said.

According to Shams, nine out of every ten smokers reside in countries where there are no pictorial warnings on cigarette packets.

The Health Affairs Management program will be combined with several discussions and meetings about the role of using pictures to warn people of the ways in which tobacco can damage their health aiming to persuade smokers to kick the deadly habit for good.

"We have noticed that most Saudis are uninformed about the dangers of tobacco. So using such pictures will make them realize the adverse effect of smoking on their health," Shams said. – SG