On the occasion of World No Tobacco day, on Wednesday, 31 May 2023, IDF – Indian Doctors Forum, Kuwait, under the president-ship of Dr. Diwakara Chaluvaiah, hosted awareness talks on anti-vaping. These talks are part of IDF -SHAPES (School Health Awareness Program & Educational Seminars) ongoing efforts to educate and inform students about the dangers of Vaping, tobacco and nicotine use, as well as the importance of maintaining good health and well-being.
Vaping has become a global health challenge, and it is essential that we work together to combat this growing problem. Expert speakers – eminent doctors from IDF - Dr. Juzer Ali, Dr Sajna Mohammad, Dr. Mohan Ram, Dr. Piyush Bafna, Dr. Asit Mohanty, Dr. Rajesh Vasudeva, Dr. Tasneem Jasvi, Dr. Anila Albert, Dr. Susovana Sujith Nair, Dr. Jitendra Shete, Dr. Imtiaz Nawaz, Dr. Hussaini Shakir & Dr. Ali Asgar Jetaji, provided valuable insights and information on the risks associated with vaping, including the potential long term health effects that can result from its use. These important talks were given simultaneously in 13 Indian community schools at same time. This event was supported by Dawoodi Bohras association.
IDF is grateful to the following Indian schools which hosted these talks with active participation – FAIPS (DPS, Ahmadi), Indian Public School (salmiya), New Gulf Indian School (Mahboula), Carmel school (Khaitan), Smart Bhavans (Jleeb), Indian Learners Own Academy (Jleeb), Indian Central School (Jleeb), SIMS (Salmiya), Gulf Indian School (Fahaheel), United Indian School(Jleeb), AMSB (Mahboula), Integrated Indian School (Jleeb) and Bhavans (Jleeb)
These talks were highly appreciated by the principals & staff of the schools as well parents who were viewing the online live coverage and received great feedbacks. They informed that vaping has become rampant among the teenagers, and it requires conscious efforts to control it on part of everyone – parents, schools, councillors and professionals, as part of their social responsibility to safeguard the future generation. The response by the students was also highly encouraging, which could be gauged by the counter questions they asked after the talks. It was so encouraging, that students of couple of schools, took oath collectively on the spot, to shy away from vaping & usage of tobacco and its products. Few schools also organized additional activities along with, like memes, skits to highlight the dangers of consumption of tobacco & its products.
This event was inaugurated by Dr Thomas Koshy, General Secretary & Dr Sajna Mohammad, Vice president, IDF with the undeterred support & coordination by Dr Sameer Humad & Dr. Sajna Mohammad ( Vice Presidents, IDF ). These talks are an ongoing process as part of IDF-SHAPES and will be covering more topics pertaining to health, in future.