UAE | Health
Number of smokers increase in UAE: WHO
According to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number of people, particularly men, smoking tobacco in the UAE has increased.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:28 September 15, 2008
Dubai: According to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number of people, particularly men, smoking tobacco in the UAE has increased.
Health professionals are taking the opportunity during Ramadan to implore smokers in the UAE to quit the habit, saying residents are not taking the risk of disease seriously enough.
The study suggests 24 per cent of males aged between 13 and 15, and as many as 42 per cent of males aged 17 are currently smoking tobacco.
The study revealed 20 per cent of the UAE's total male population are smokers, while nearly 3 percent of adult females are smokers.
"Smoking is embedded in eastern culture and we need to change the mentality of the significant part of our population who believe this to be true," said Dr Ahmad Al Hakim.
Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease that can be controlled, Al Hakim said.
Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the US Surgeon General has called it "the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States."
In support of the global stop smoking campaign, the UAE Ministry of Health has approved the registration of Champix, one of the most effective treatments for breaking the cycle of tobacco addiction.
Champix is a breakthrough treatment that had already helped millions of smokers to quit worldwide. It is a non-nicotine agent and the first new treatment approved for smoking cessation in nearly a decade.
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