ANTI-SMOKING DRIVE TARGETS PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

JEDDAH: Primary school students in Makkah province have received anti-smoking awareness packages as part of the third national anti-smoking campaign organized by the Charitable Society for Awareness Against Smoking and Narcotics.

In this first-time approach, the campaign aims at planting awareness amongst the young ones through simple easy-to-understand methods, said Abdullah Seruji, executive director of the group.

The package includes a children’s magazine, a CD that contains awareness cartoons in addition to some school supplies.

“All contents of the package have messages for the young ones that help them understand the dangers of smoking,” Seruji said.

He said that Prince Mishaal bin Majed, the governor of Jeddah, delivered the first batch of the awareness package to students earlier this week.

The awareness package, Seruji said, is part of the programs of the third national anti-smoking campaign, which includes various events and activities aimed at spreading anti-smoking awareness to all levels of society, he said.

Cigarette smoking is the main reason behind the death of 3.38 million people worldwide, including 13,544 in Saudi Arabia last year, according to statistics published by the charity’s website www.tadkheen.org.

In a previous interview, Dr. Muhammad Al-Baddah, supervisor of the anti-smoking program at the Health Ministry, said cigarette smoking in the Kingdom was growing at alarming proportions. He said the value of cigarette imports in the country grew to SR1.7 billion in 2005.

He estimated the total economic losses caused by smoking at SR25 billion in five years from 2005 to 2010. The majority of Saudi smokers who took part in a recent survey said they started the unhealthy habit as a result of the influence of friends.

Some participants (8.4 percent) said it was the family atmosphere that made them smokers while 5.9 percent blamed work pressure for smoking.

The survey showed that the majority of smokers in the Kingdom are unmarried young men and women with one-third of them being students.


Hasan Hatrash - Arab News