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Occasion of World Tobacco Day

27th May 2018

On the occasion of World Tobacco Day, President of Kuwait Heart Association Faisal Al-Mutawa calls for stopping this bad habit.

Chairman of the Kuwait Heart Association Faisal Al-Mutawa called on smokers to stop smoking to protect them from the risks of heart disease and chronic non-communicable diseases, of which smoking is one of the main risk factors for infection, including cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, stressing the importance of protecting non-smokers as Especially pregnant women, children and the elderly are the risks of forced smoking due to smokers.

Al-Mutawa said in a press statement on the occasion of the World Anti-Tobacco Day, which falls on May 31 of each year, “Awareness campaigns about the dangers of smoking and its negative effects on health are at the top of the association’s priority list, based on its responsibilities for heart health and its role in raising awareness of healthy lifestyles within its responsibilities towards achieving goals.” and the global goals of sustainable development related to heart health, where deaths due to heart diseases represent the first cause of death in the country, followed by deaths due to cancer. Heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and cancer also cause increasing burdens on individuals, families, society and the process of comprehensive and sustainable development. Reports of the organization indicate The World Health Organization estimates that 12% of deaths from heart disease are due to smoking.

He praised the positive partnership between the Heart Association and the Ministry of Health through community initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles, prevent heart diseases and address risk factors, foremost of which is smoking. This is through the anti-smoking law and the articles related to anti-smoking within the Environmental Law. However, according to the statement of the Kuwait Heart Association, the fight against smoking still requires more efforts in cooperation between governmental and non-governmental agencies, civil society and public interest associations related to health, especially heart health.

Al-Mutawa concluded his press statement on the occasion of World Anti-Tobacco Day by calling for updating indicators related to the prevalence of smoking through conducting modern health surveys and disseminating their results to the widest scale and benefiting from them to update programs and follow up their implementation, referring to the results of the health survey on risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases in Kuwait, which was conducted in cooperation With the World Health Organization and the publication of its report on the organization’s website in 2014, the alarm was raised due to the prevalence of smoking in the country, which amounted to 20.5% among both sexes, 39.2% among males and 3.3% among females in the age group 18-69 years, which is considered by the Kuwait Heart Association An alarming indicator of heart disease and chronic non-communicable diseases, of which smoking is one of the main risk factors, and attracts the attention of the association with its awareness programs and the activities of the mobile unit of the association, in addition to the research and conferences that have enjoyed the support and sponsorship of the association since its inception.