On the occasion of the National Day For The Abstinence From Smoking, and under the auspices of the general manager of (BAGHDAD HEALTH FIRMNESS?), a ceremony was held in the hall of the Sadr City branch of the Citizens' Advice And Care Centre. Doctors from all the Sadr City health centers participated in this gathering, such as the Sadis Health Centre and the Kadhim Abd Al-Nabi and Aala' Al-Shawaili Centers, as well as humanitarian foundations and tribal elders.

The gathering began with a recital of verses by Al-Dhakar Al-Hakim followed by a number of lectures. The Sadr City branch of the Citizens' Advice and Care Centre contributed by offering a play about the dangers of smoking performed by students from the consolidation courses which the Centre holds.

Doctor Basim Aboud Mohammed (from the Kadhim Abd Al-Nabi Centre) gave a lecture about the dangers of smoking, the origin of the tobacco used in cigarettes and its ingredients - the effects of which he described as being like a bullet entering the body, with the simple difference that a bullet promises a quick death whereas inhaling cigarette smoke is a slow death. He underlined: A person does not have to be a smoker, for there is another kind of smoking called "passive smoking" (which occurs by inhaling smokers' smoke) which is very serious and can lead sometimes to death.

Doctor Basim Aboud Mohammed explained that one of the most important reasons that adolescents resort to smoking is bad friends, saying that parents should observe their children at this critical age so as to remove them from bad friends.

At the end of his lecture the Doctor revealed a number of ideas and suggestions on how to quit smoking. Among which: the presence of the good example of non-smokers in the home and at school, the role of religious leaders and educators in helping smokers to quit smoking, the need for special clinics to treat those addicted to it, the need to increase the eating of fruits and vegetables and resort to relaxation especially during the first days of abstinence from smoking, the shunning of smoking and smokers' environments and to increase the drinking of water and juices (especially lemon juice) together with other measures which help the smoker to quit smoking.

At the end of the gathering advice pamphlets were distributed, the attendance being 50 people.