smoking society “Kafa” has said that its “Ramadan is My Chance” campaign led to 1,500 smokers giving up the habit. Kafa chief executive Abdullah Sarouji said that the Ramadan awareness campaign, conducted in the vicinity of the Great Mosque in Makkah, saw Kafa members handing out leaflets and providing further information on the dangers of smoking as the society sought to promote its goal for a “smoke-free Makkah”. “We sent out our mobile clinic, the first of its kind in the whole of the Middle East, to help and encourage smokers to give up,” Sarouji said. The clinic contains a small display on the contents of tobacco, and the damage done to human organs, and offers persons wishing to kick the habit an on-the-spot treatment plan. “Throughout Ramadan we provided treatment to over 50 smokers a day after they were presented with information on how smoking can cause cancer, hardening of the arteries and heart disease,” Sarouji said. “They also view images of smokers who have contracted some of these illnesses.” According to Sarouji, thousands of persons attended the mobile clinic's out-door audio-visual displays. “We received afterwards numerous letters of thanks from visitors to the clinic and its information displays,” he said. Kafa – the Society for Awareness of the Dangers of Smoking and Drug Abuse – has since moved its mobile clinic on to Jeddah, where it has set it up at 10 major shopping centers, making itself available to tens of thousands of persons. “We have also taken our ‘A Smoke-Free Society' campaign to other areas frequented by the public, such as parks, recreation areas and the Corniche,” Sarouji said.
