Al-Badr Association for the Assistance of Cancer Patients, organized Today, Monday, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, which coincides with May 31 of each year, an awareness day at Agha train station (Algiers) targeting train users to inform and warn them of the dangers of this scourge and the consumption of tobacco in all its forms.
Wissam Sedira, communication officer at Al-Badr Association, affirmed in a statement to the Algerian News Agency that the fourteenth edition of the “Cigarette-Free Train” campaign, organized in partnership with the National Railway Transport Company, is organized this year under the slogan “Commitment to quit” and is organized exceptionally at (Agha) train stations in the capital and the train station Blida, on account of the overall health conditions associated with the Coronavirus pandemic.
She said that, in the framework of respecting the health protocol for the prevention from Coronavirus, the activities that the association used to undertake in the context of combating the scourge of smoking were cancelled this year, and which consisted of approaching citizens at the level of long haul trains to sensitize them about the dangers of smoking and the consumption of tobacco in all its forms, We preferred – Ms. Sedira added – to organize this awareness-raising day to get closer to the train users at the stations of Agha and Blida.
The association’s spokeswoman added that the main goal of this campaign is to sensitize the large public of all age groups about the dangers of tobacco and its effects on individuals and on the environment, highlighting that 80 percent of patients (men) who are received at the level of the accommodation structures of the association in the provinces of Blida and Algiers suffer from lung cancer, and most of them are smokers.
For his part, Mr. Jamel Chaalal, Communications Director at the National Railway Transport Company, said that hosting this sensitization initiative by the Company’s stations is part of its social responsibility, it is a company for citizens and it is “our duty – he added – to open our doors to all civil society associations that work for the general benefit”.
Mr. Chaalal called on all association to get closer to the company to activate similar campaigns of services provided to the society and adhere to all the values of partnership and communication with all segments of society that the company aspires to achieve.
Regarding the recorded violations of smoking cases in trains, the same source said that they are “very few” and reduce from year to year, which “indicates the high level of awareness of our passengers and the company’s employees’ keenness to strictly implement the instructions and procedures that must be followed on all trips.” He stressed.
The members of the association set out, since the early hours of the morning, at the starting point of the long-haul trains at Agha station, to distribute brochures to travelers that contain data related to the adverse effects of smoking on human health, in addition to advice and instructions to quit smoking and get rid of this type of addiction.
A member of the association, university student Hammouda Ramzi Louaj, said in this regard, that the association’s platforms in Agha station, as well as in Blida station, will provide several awareness-raising activities on the subject in addition to allocating drawing workshops for children and other workshops to assess the extent of smokers’ addiction to cigarettes.
The volunteer, Ramzi, added that a register will be allocated to collect personal data for smokers wishing to benefit from a group therapy workshop that will be organized by the association in the future, provided that the date of the sessions of that workshop will be determined as soon as all the organizational matters necessary to achieve the best possible results to help smoking addicts are set.
It is worth noting that the Health Law issued in July 2018 allocated a section to fight this scourge, particularly in the fourth section related to combating risk factors and promoting healthy lifestyles in the first sub-section on combating tobacco addiction from Articles 50 to 58.
The law also included in its appendices in articles 402, 404 and 405 an aspect of the fines and penalties imposed in case of non-compliance and respect of the aforementioned articles, these financial fines range from 2000 to one million dinars for those who reoffend.
