Dubai:
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched its anti-smoking social media campaign called #quit_4_happiness, during the DHA’s Twitter clinic known as #smartclinic ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2015, disseminating vital information about the benefits of quitting tobacco to more than 70,000 DHA followers on its twitter page. The aim of the campaign is to educate the community about the ill-effects of smoking and provide information about the DHA’s various smoking cessation programmes.
Dr Sami Mana, head of preventive services centre at the DHA, said: “The DHA’s smoking cessation clinics, have recorded a year-on-year increase in the quitting rate and this is due to the rise in community awareness. Education and provision of cessation services, are important parameters in our fight against tobacco use.
“The quitting rate has increased from 11 per cent in 2012 to 14 per cent in 2013 and 16.9 per cent in 2014. Globally the quitting rate is in the range of 10 to 20 per cent.”
Mana said:“Although tobacco dependence is a behavioural, cognitive and physiological phenomenon, quitting is very much possible and easier when the smoker takes the help of a health care professionals and regularly visits a cessation counselling programme.”
Dr Hanan Obaid, head of acute and chronic diseases unit at DHA provided an overview of the cessation clinics and said: “DHA primary health care centres conduct three dedicated smoking cessation clinics per week and all 14 primary health care centres refer smokers to these clinics as well as provide them with health information on the dangers of tobacco consumption. On an average, each clinic receives approximately 300 patients per year.“
Elaborating on how the clinic operates Dr Hanan explained: “The clinic caters to people who want to quit smoking by addressing their individual problems and by giving them medical and psychological support. The clinic reaches out to smokers to help them cope with nicotine withdrawal symptoms which is a factor that often dissuades them from stubbing the habit.”
Mana added that cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer and tobacco smoke is a mix of more than 4,000 chemicals, of which 250 are toxic and at least 50 are known to cause cancer. “People who quit smoking have a lower risk of lung cancer, but their risk is higher than the risk of people who never smoked. However, it is important to note that quitting tobacco at any age can lower the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.”
He highlighted the dangers of passive smoking and said: “Smokers should be considerate about their friends and family members especially children and pregnant women. Passive smoking is very harmful especially for small children who are still in the developmental stages of their life. According to WHO, almost half the children in the world, regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke in public places.”
He also said it’s a myth that pipes are less harmful than cigarettes. “Pipes are more alkaline, more addictive and cause substantially higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the relative risk of lip and oral cancer is also higher as compared to cigarette smoking.”
The Smoking Cessation Clinic at Al Barsha provides cessation programmes and counselling every Tuesday. For more information, please call 04-5023300/04-5023302.
Al Twar Centre provides cessation programmes and counselling every Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
For more information, please call 04-5022101/2.
