Saudi mobile cessation clinics attract mainly women

Of 9,710 tobacco smokers who attended mobile clinics operated in Saudi Arabia under the Ministry of Health’s Tobacco Control Program (TCP), 8,575, or 88.3 percent were women.

The clinics were said to have ‘played a key role in helping’ 2,296 men and women quit smoking.

Fifty nine percent of those who quit smoking cited health concerns as the main reason, while 14 percent cited religious factors and 13 percent cited family pressure.

TCP launched 10 mobile clinics to provide treatment and awareness services in Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, Makkah, Madinah, Taif, Asir, Najran, Jazan and Jouf.

Kawthar Al-Shidwi, head of media and public relations at the TCP, said there were more than 58 anti-smoking centers throughout the kingdom.