An Emirati doctor was yesterday re-elected as the Chairman of the Anti-Smoking International Alliance, ASIA.

During the past year, Dr. Abdul Salam Al Madani has contributed to the restructuring of ASIA, and proposed a number of new ideas, including adopting a strategy to combat smoking around the world.

The anti-smoking organisation also achieved enormous success in a number of cities around the world, mainly in the US states of Arizona and New York in addition to the UK and Switzerland. Board members also selected Dubai as the main hub for their future anti-smoking awareness campaigns.

In his speech at the annual meeting in London, Dr. Al Madani said, "I am very proud of this achievement. However, this means that we need to work even more to spread awareness about this bad habit, especially in the Arab and Asian world. According to official research, a lot of young people die because of smoking every day, in addition to the billions of dollars spent not only on cigarettes but on the expenses incurred by individuals and by the health sector on treatment and medicines."