Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Tobacco Control Policies for OIC Member States
SESRIC jointly organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Turkey and the Turkish Green Crescent Society the “Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Tobacco Control Policies for OIC Member States ” in Istanbul, Turkey on 14-16 December 2016.
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.
The Saudi Ministry of Health has intensified its campaign to make Mecca and Medina tobacco-free cities while Hajj pilgrims are flocking to the holy sites from worldwide. In this frame, Dr. Sameer Al-Sabban, the executive director of the Anti-Smoking Campaign in Mecca, said that they “require the cooperation of pilgrims to make the two holy cities among those with the lowest tobacco consumption in the world”.