 The number of smokers in Saudi Arabia has amplified to a big sum of six million, of which 600,000 are women. There are also 772,000 teenage smokers, including students. Many smokers may be unaware of this phenomenon but it is true: smoking causes blindness. The generic form of blindness caused by smoking is "age-related macular degeneration." Smoking is also a cause of cataract, amongst many other life-threatening diseases. Every 6.5 seconds, a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In Saudi Arabia, 22,000 Saudis die of smoking related diseases every year, according to the Anti-Smoking Society.
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Developing Impactful Awareness Raising Campaigns towards Reducing Tobacco Consumption
Training Course on ‘Packaging, Labeling and Pictorial Health Warnings on Tobacco Products’
World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the 3rd session of the Conference of the Parties
The Saudi Arabian government has significantly stepped up the nation’s fight against tobacco use by requiring public places to be smoke-free. The smoke-free policy will apply to government offices, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and shopping malls in addition to airports, which have been smoke-free since 2011. It even applies to water-pipes, or shisha.