Health workers urged to combat smoking
Health care providers should intensify efforts to combat smoking since there is an alarming increase in the number of smokers in the Kingdom, said Dr. Najwa Al-Ghamdi at the inauguration of a symposium on Smoking Cessation — Improving the Role of Health Care Providers at King Fahd Medical City (KAMC) yesterday.
In her opening remarks, Al-Ghamdi, chairwoman of the symposium, pointed out that one sixth of the Kingdom’s six million smokers are women. “We hope that this event will act as a wake-up call to all health care providers to implement a multidisciplinary approach in assisting patients with tobacco addiction.”
Al-Ghamdi, who is a consultant clinical pharmacist, said health care providers could play an effective role in disseminating information on the ill effects of smoking. “Pharmacists have easy access to people and they can approach members of the public in a friendly way to help them quit smoking,” she said.
The symposium was organized by KAMC as part of a health awareness campaign conducted throughout the Kingdom in connection with World No Tobacco Day.
KAMC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdullah Al-Amro, who is also the head of Saudi Cancer Society, inaugurated the symposium, which was attended by more than 150 health officials from the city.
“Smoking has been the main cause of 3.38 million deaths worldwide, including 13,544 in the Kingdom, last year,” said Dr. Muneera Al-Babtain, clinical pharmacist from Prince Sultan Cardiac Center. She pointed out that smoking is expected to kill 500 million people by 2030 as predicted by a joint report issued by the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
Speaking on Pharmacotherapy of Tobacco Smoking, Dr. Emad Zayed, clinical pharmacist for internal medicine, said although 70 percent of patients who smoke say they would like to quit smoking, only 7.9 percent are able to do so without help. “The advice of health care providers alone can improve the smoking cessation rate to 10.2 percent,” Zayed said, indicating that the combined use of therapy and social behavioral support can raise this to 35 percent.
Dr. Manal Al-Subki, head of the Adult Clinical Nutrition Section, said smoking cessation could cause a weight gain of 4 to 5 kg with 1 to 2 kg gained during the first two weeks. “Weight gain has been reported in 10 percent of quitters and can reach as high as 13 kg,” she said, adding that there is an increased concern of weight gain among smokers, especially females, who want to quit. Participation in a diet and exercise program can effectively limit weight gain related to smoking cessation, she said.
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