Pilgrims to take Haj pledge to quit smoking

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Riyadh - Saudi Arabia under the Tobacco Control Program will launch a no-smoking campaign during Haj to ensure that the two holy cities and other ritual sites remain tobacco-free areas.

Dr. Abdullah Muhammad Bidah, Supervisor-General of the Tobacco Control Program (TCP), Ministry of HealthMinistry of Health, said preparations are underway to educate pilgrims about the harmful effects of smoking and other uses of tobacco.

He said for a pilgrim who is addicted to smoking, Haj would be the ideal time to quit the habit. "As part of our campaign we coined a slogan for this Haj - "Make Arafat Day, a Quit Smoking Day." The slogan will serve as a pledge taken on the spiritual day of Haj that will enable a pilgrim to quit smoking for the rest of his life," he said.

Among the total number of pilgrims coming from various countries for Haj this year, an estimated 700,000 will be smokers, Bidah said adding that the TCP has printed around 1.5 million leaflets in 14 different languages for distribution among pilgrims including both smokers and non-smokers.

The printed educational material will be in languages such as Arabic, English, French, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Indonesia and Swahili, Bidah said.

Besides, he added, there will be paid advertisements in seven languages on different satellite television channels. Anti-smoking advertisements will also be deployed on electronic screens located in the ritual sites.

He said TCP will also distribute a kit containing a prayer mat and a colorful gift card with an anti-smoking message, and information about the harmful effects of tobacco on health will be given as souvenirs to the pilgrims, who can take them to their home countries as reminders of the pledge they made during Haj to quit smoking.

Pilgrims, who are non-smokers, will help to disseminate information to people back home, he said. He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been requested to gather information when Haj visas are issued in order to ascertain the number of smokers among the pilgrims coming for Haj.

Bidah said the draft of a national anti-tobacco law has been submitted to higher authorities for approval.

He said efforts are underway to make Makkah and Madina tobacco-free cities. There are, however, difficulties in making the two holy cities 100 percent tobacco-free because pilgrims coming from different backgrounds and cultures are addicted to smoking.

"We require the cooperation of pilgrims in order to make the two holy cities among those with the lowest tobacco consumption in the world," he said, adding that the area within five-kilometers of the Holy Haram in Makkah and Madina is tobacco-free with the sale of tobacco strictly banned.

He said even as the anti-smoking laws are being considered for approval, a central committee has been formed with representatives from the ministries of Health, Education and Commerce and other related agencies in order to study the ways and means of creating 100 percent tobacco-free Haj ritual sites

By Shahid Ali Khan

© The Saudi Gazette 2008