Om Yousef attends a quit smoking session at the WHO-supported tobacco cessation clinic, Zoher Hubi primary health care centre. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Syria9 June 2024, Damascus, Syria – Forty-year-old Om Yousef is originally from Daraa governorate in southern Syria. She and her husband and 2 children fled to the governorate of Rural Damascus from her hometown in 2013, because of the escalating conflict.
“We lost everything – our home; my husband’s barber shop, the only source of income for our family. I felt even my dreams had faded. It was a mix of feelings that can’t be expressed,” says Om Yousef. “To escape, we started smoking. We did not know that it was a trap. We were stuck in a neverending circle, going from nonsmokers to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.”
Tragically, Om Yousef’s husband had a heart attack in 2023 and died aged 45 years. The doctors confirmed that his heart attack was caused by heavy smoking. This was a wake-up call for Om Yousef.
“My children need me,” she says. “My 7-year-old son Yousef does not believe that his father has passed away. He still tells people that his father will come back one day.”
During Om Yousef’s visit to the Zoher Hubi primary health care centre with her son for his regular vaccination, an awareness session on how to quit smoking was going on. Through this, she learned that the centre has its own tobacco cessation clinic. She enrolled in its programme and attended weekly sessions in person. Now, after 8 months, she has quit smoking.
Dr Fathia Mohammad, head of the tobacco cessation clinic, said: “With WHO support, we started the clinic in 2021. We have biweekly awareness sessions about the harms of smoking and offer free tobacco cessation services to all beneficiaries.”
“It was not an easy decision to take, but I did it. It is a life change. I feel healthier, I am alive again,” shared Om Yousef, speaking about her decision to quit smoking.
WHO, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, has made notable progress in tobacco control. During the past 4 years WHO has helped set up 39 tobacco cessation clinics across 11 Syrian governorates: Damascus (6 clinics), Aleppo (5), Latakia (5), Rural Damascus (5), Tartous (5), Hama (3), Daraa (2), Deir ez-Zor (2), Homs (2), Quneitra (2) and Sweida (2). These clinics provided consultations to about 5000 people in 2023.
In 2023, WHO’s Tobacco Control Programme also trained 50 health professionals in total – from one public hospital in Damascus and another in Rural Damascus – on tobacco cessation programmes.
In line with the World No Tobacco Day 2024 theme, “Youth Step In and Speak Out”, the Ministry of Health has also launched smoke-free initiatives targeting schools, universities and households. WHO is providing support and educational materials to raise awareness among these communities about the adverse effects of smoking.
