DM observes World No Tobacco Day

Dubai Municipality on Sunday observed World No Tobacco Day, which falls on May 31, with a wide variety of activities in the main building as well as the branch offices of the Municipality and the public libraries. Eng. Redha Salman, Director of Public Health and Safety Department inaugurated the activities at the main building.
An exhibition was organized by the Clinic and Community Health Section of the Public Health Services Department with the cooperation of the Corporate Marketing and Relations Department in the reception area of the new block near the customer service centre explaining how smoking affects different organs of the human beings. It also shows the difference between the normal lunges and the diseased one with a different colour. This lung of the smoker cannot expand like the ordinary one. Tar collected in a jar shows how much tar goes to lungs if a person smokes 10 cigarettes a day for a period of one month. The exhibition also shows how much smoking affects the mouth.
Models of organs affected by lung cancer, kidney cancer, myocardial infarction, laryngeal cancer and atherosclerosis were displayed.
Zuhoor Al Sabbagh, Director of Public Health Services Department said the campaign aims to educate the public about the hazards of smoking and its negative impacts on the individual as well as the society.
"The campaign is mainly aimed at youth as most of the people start smoking at an early age. The campaign focuses on the importance of healthy life style," she said.
Al Sabbagh said the campaign also highlights the efforts of the Municipality in providing free treatment to the employees who are smokers and following them up until they quit smoking.
Nusaiba Hassan Qaid, Head of Clinic and Community Health Section said the No Tobacco Day campaign will continue through out the month of June and after the summer it will be spread to the schools in the emirate.
In addition to the exhibition, visitors to the Municipality on Sunday were subjected to tests using Spiro metre to measure the lung function to see the level of carbon monoxide.
People who register their names at this counter are offered treatment at Rashid Hospital, the Ministry of Health clinics and the Municipality clinic, said Dr. Mohammed Mutawalli of the Clinic and Community Health Section.
Tests are also conducted to see how much breathing is affected due to smoking. This helps to know if the smoker is affected with any of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD).
Al Twar Public Library organized a lecture titled, "Smoking hazards and ways to quit smoking."
The no-smoking campaign will continued to be held throughout the month of June at the different branch centres of the Municipality, other government departments, private companies and shopping malls. In the next phase in October, the campaign will be taken to schools, colleges and universities.
The campaign also includes organizing online competitions for Municipality employees and sporting activities, in addition to mobile medical exhibition for conducting free tests, spreading the message through advertisements in newspapers, posters, roll ups and brochures.