More than 40 students, faculty and alumni from various institutions participated in a smoking cessation awareness campaign, ‘Quit Now’, which was recently organised by the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Student Society.

The participants represented Qatar University (QU) College of Pharmacy (CPH), College of Medicine and College of Health Sciences (CHS), Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, University of Calgary in Qatar and College of the North Atlantic-Qatar.

Held in collaboration with Qatar Pharmacy Undergraduate Society (QPhUS) and QU Alumni Association CPH chapter, and in support of Hamad Medical Corporation’s Smoking Cessation Clinic, the campaign aimed to raise community awareness on issues related to smoking cessation and preventive measures, according to a press statement. Student and faculty volunteers provided visitors with information on smoking cessation facts and figures, prevention tips, health management and options for quitting.

CPH dean Dr Mohamed Diab said, “The College of Pharmacy is committed to providing outreach to the community on a variety of health-related issues. Encouraging a healthy Qatar through smoking cessation awareness and prevention is just another platform to help the society lead healthier lifestyles and is an integral component to being a pharmacist.

“Hosting such a campaign at Landmark Mall, in collaboration with our alumni, is further testament to the College’s commitment to advance healthcare education and training.”

CPH assistant dean for Student Affairs Alla El-Awaisi said, “This outreach campaign highlights CPH’s efforts to provide a diverse and varied levels of opportunities to all our students in which they can develop their professional skills through real-world learning and application both while as active students and alumni.”

IPE Student Society president Myriam Jaam noted, “This is the first outreach event for the IPE Student Society and we are glad to find that it was a great success. Students from all the health-related colleges participated in this event along with their faculty members who we cannot thank enough for their continuous support. “We all aim for a smoke-free society and can only achieve this if we work together as a team. Again, on behalf of the society, thanks to everyone who made this event a big success.”

CPH Alumni Chapter president Oraib Abdallah added, “Such outreach activity offers a unique opportunity to allow them to be actively involved in the provision of public healthcare. As pharmacists, we should keep assisting smokers in quitting cigarettes and other smoking-related products to make our society free from tobacco use.”

QPhUS president and 4th-year CPH student Amani al-Haddad said, “This has perfectly represented inter-professional education, where every contributor worked collaboratively for the best interest of the patient and the community.”

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