JEDDAH – The Anti-Smoking Awareness Society (Kafa), a non-profit group which helps smokers kick the habit and spreads awareness of the dangers of tobacco, is working hard to reduce the number of smokers in the Kingdom.
Kafa, which means ‘enough’ in Arabic, has set up a mobile clinic which tours Jeddah to lend a hand to smokers who are serious about quitting.
“We now have a mobile clinic complete with medical staff and a psychologist,” Abdullah Hasan Saroujy, Kafa executive manager said. He added that the clinic targets educational institutes, government offices and private sector establishments.
“We started with the Jeddah Vocational and Industrial Institute. There we distributed brochures and presented visual materials that show how dangerous smoking is for both the individual and society,” Saroujy said.
He claimed that 60 students at the institute had stopped smoking after taking part in anti-smoking medication sessions.
“We also succeeded in introducing ourselves to 440 trainees of the institute,” he added.
Saroujy pointed out the mobile clinic was launched by Prince Mishal Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah, during one of the society’s anniversaries.
Kafa’s mobile clinic has, in the last four years, succeeded in helping more than 2,000 people quit smoking in Jeddah, Makkah and Taif. It has also arranged many summer events to spread awareness of the dangers of smoking.
“We are looking forward to having a tobacco-free society, and we are working on that through various integrated programs,” said Saroujy.
According to Dr. Najwa Al-Ghamdi, a clinical pharmacist at King Fahd Medical City, there are more than six million smokers of both genders in the Kingdom.
Al-Ghamdi pointed out that treating smoking related diseases consumes a large amount of the budget allocated for health care.
“Smoking can affect all parts of the body and is the main cause for many illnesses and deaths,” she said. – SG