Up to 6 percent Women in Qatar Use Tobacco

Source from:  The Peninsula  12/05/2013

An official survey has found that some three to six percent of women here smoke or use tobacco in some form.

An alarming rise in tobacco addiction has been noticed in the country over the past six years, reveals the survey conducted by the national statistics agency.

What is strange is that the more a person is educated the more vulnerable he or she is to the dangerous habit, according to Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA).

Only two percent of uneducated women were found to be addicted to tobacco, while the percentage was three in the case of their educated counterparts, QSA said.

On the eve of World No-Tobacco Day yesterday, QSA released the findings of the survey conducted last year.

It said that between 2006 and 2012, daily tobacco use rose by an alarming 20 to 32 percent in the country. Among women, daily tobacco use increased between 1.2 and 2.2 percent in the above period. Some 24 to 26 percent men smoke or use tobacco in some form. The percentage, as mentioned earlier, was three to six in the case of women.

It was discovered that the average age at which people begin smoking or using tobacco in other forms was 18 years and eight months.

Some three percent of Qatari women were found to have tobacco addiction, while the percentage for their male counterparts was higher at 27.

Even women who were pregnant or breastfeeding were found to be addicted to tobacco, although their proportion was negligible at 0.5 percent.

Three percent of the tobacco users among men had smoked a full cigarette at age 15 while more than a third of male addicts (37 percent) smoked 20 cigarettes a day. This percentage was smaller, at 12, among women addicts.

Men aged between 40 and 44 years were found to be using tobacco more as nearly half the smokers and tobacco users (49 percent) were found to be in this age group.

In a separate statement, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) yesterday said it would be observing World No-Tobacco Day today by organising a host of events at several shopping malls.

The idea is to raise awareness, particularly among youth, about tobacco use. The SCH said it would be actively coordinating with various ministries and NGOs to organise the anti-tobacco campaign.

At the Aspire Zone, two football teams from the SCH will play a friendly match today under the slogan 'No Smoking Please''.

The SCH said all kinds of promotion and advertisement for cigarettes and other forms of tobacco were being banned in the country. Enditem