KUWAIT: Al-Masoud Diwaniya was announced as the winner of the ‘Health without Smoking Competition’ that was organized by the Kuwait Society for Preventing Smoking and Cancer (KSPSC). The competition was held in April 2024 in Faiha. It is aimed at having an important group of Kuwaiti society join the smoking prevention campaign, chairman of the Board of the Kuwait Society for Preventing Smoking and Cancer (KSPSC), Dr Khalid Al-Saleh, said during an event to honor the winner.

Some of these diwaniyas host various age groups who continually frequent them, and because they are closed places, smoking harms non-smokers who are exposed to passive smoking as well. According to the World Health Organization’s reports, there are 600,000 early deaths linked to smoking. Many of these people are exposed to passive smoking, and 64 percent are women.

Al-Masoud Diwaniya honored after winning the ‘Health without Smoking Competition.’

“Smoking is very dangerous to health, but regretfully, Kuwait occupies the top place on the list of countries with high smoking rates among GCC countries. KSPSC, in cooperation with the Health Ministry, NGOs and cooperatives (such as the Faiha Cooperative Society) are keen to promote anti-smoking awareness,” Dr Al-Saleh said, adding that the announcement of Al-Masoud Diwaniya as the winner came after inspecting participating diwaniyas in the area.

“We were pleased with what we saw in Al-Masoud Diwaniya. The diwaniya’s commitment to ban smoking is a good example for others to follow. KSPSC has a smoke cessation clinic that receives those who wish to quit smoking. The clinic receives smokers from all areas,” he explained. Dr Al-Saleh thanked Kuwait University, Life Science College, for opening a smoking cessation clinic in Sabah Al-Salem University City.