Forty percent of secondary school students in the Eastern Province are regular smokers with 27 percent of them having developed the habit before they were ten years old, said Saleh A. Al-Abbad, Director of the Anti-Smoking Charitable Association in the Eastern Province. He said that according to a recent survey conducted by his association in the province's three major cities of Dammam, Al-Khobar and Dhahran, most students became addicted through their friends and neighbors. The number of smokers in the Kingdom in general has increased tremendously and the Eastern Province has the highest rate of cancer in both men and women, Al-Abbad told Saudi Gazette in an exclusive interview. Through the concerted efforts of his association, he said, over 700 smokers in the Eastern Province were able to kick the habit. They were persuaded to do so through intense clinical therapy and awareness campaigns, he explained. “Our main aim is to make greater efforts to spread awareness by conducting educational programs and seminars for youths and students about the harm of smoking and its negative effect on one's health,” Al-Abbad said. The official regretted that the association does not have a clinic for women even though, he said, the number of women smokers is steadily rising in the Kingdom. “It is also difficult to conduct a survey of women smokers and bring them to clinics to be cured. It requires more personnel, funds and training to serve the women's wing of the association. We are facing financial difficulties in running such clinics because of a lack of financial support from the community,” he said. Al-Abbad's association runs a total of seven clinics – one each in Hail, Al-Kharj, Al-Ahsa and Dammam and three in Riyadh. “We charge a nominal fee of SR300 from patients for the treatment course which requires a 30-minute clinic visit for six consecutive days. The treatment is by the silver touch system done by special machines. This treatment is like the acupuncture method. Anyone undergoing this treatment will be cured of nicotine addiction,” Al-Abbad explained. “Each clinic has a permanent doctor, nurses and other staff. We need more full-time trained manpower to spread our message and activities around the province, but the lack of financial support is the main hindrance. We run this anti-smoking charitable association with the help of charity money from well-wishers only,” he said. This year, Al-Abbad said, the association is planning to spread the anti-smoking message to non-Arabic speaking expatriates. “Presently we have our brochures and audio cassettes in the Arabic language only. We expect some expatriate community organizations to join in order to spread the anti-smoking campaign in their languages,” he said.
