UAE | Health
More than 500 smokers in UAE pledge to give up smoking
About 500 smokers have pledged to give up smoking for a month and the anti-smoking awareness campaign that started two-weeks ago has garnered huge public interest, a senior doctor said.
- By Mahmood Saberi, Senior Reporter
- Published: 17:00 May 31, 2009
Dubai: About 500 smokers have pledged to give up smoking for a month and the anti-smoking awareness campaign that started two-weeks ago has garnered huge public interest, a senior doctor said.
Smokers who wish to give up will be monitored after 30 days and their nicotine content in the body checked. Those who successfully quit will win a range of prizes.
The UAE is joining a world-wide effort to stop people from smoking and observing the No Tobacco Day on Sunday and Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) will offer smokers support through education and counseling, Dr Ayesha Abdullah, senior vice president of DHCC, said.
The anti-smoking campaign has evoked huge public interest and the website www.notobaccocampaign.com has got 7,000 hits since the past two weeks, doctors said.
The programme was launched two weeks ago by setting up health information stands in shopping malls and workshops in major organisations.
"Tobacco use causes premature death and disease, which is preventable," said Dr Ayesha, adding that she has heard moving stories from people about their "own battles and those of loved ones to give up smoking".
Lung cancer is the second-highest killer in the UAE, striking people in their most productive years, said Dr Ayesha, noting that it is not only a burden on healthcare but on families which lose their breadwinner.
The epidemic of smoking has shifted from the developed areas to the developing world and today more than 80 per cent of the world's smokers live in low and middle-income countries.
Benefits of quitting:
1 day to 2 weeks
Your breath smells better
Food tastes better
No more yellow fingernails
2 weeks to 3 months
Lung function increases
Risk of heart attack decreases
1 to 9 months
Coughing and shortness of breath decrease
1 year after quitting
Risk of being affected by coronary heart disease is halved to that of smoker
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