According to a Gulf News report published in May, 2014, an hour-long exposure to sunlight, which is what happens during Friday prayers in areas with small or low-capacity mosques, is more than sufficient to suffer sunburn and other harmful effects in peak UV time, which in May, June, July, and August in the UAE usually occurs at noon. The radiation poses multiple threats to both humans and animals without proper protection, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also declared it a major source of global diseases.
The WHO has stated in a report that UV-related illnesses and deaths have been on the rise across the world, with an estimated 60,000 deaths a year due to exposure to UV rays. Some 132,000 cases of malignant melanoma, the most fatal kind of skin cancer, and over two million cases of other skin cancers occur worldwide each year. One in every three cancers diagnosed worldwide is a skin cancer. Most skin cancers are attributable to over-exposure to natural UV radiation.
Both doctors recommended that people of all ages, particularly children, must wear sunglasses between 12pm to 3pm and use sunblock to protect exposed skin before going out in the open. The doctors also considered fishermen and beachgoers among those at high risk since sunlight and UV rays reflect off the water, creating a greater risk of exposure.
