Stub it out: alarming smoking statistics emerge on UAE youths

A quarter of all smokers in the UAE had their first cigarette before the age of 10.
The figure was revealed yesterday by the Ministry of Health as it launched a campaign urging youngsters to stub out the habit.
The Too Smart to Start initiative, under the patronage of Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid, the chairman of Dubai's Culture and Arts Authority, will target youths aged 10 to 18.
"One billion people in the world are smokers," said Abdul Rahman Al Owais, the Minister of Health. "Every eight seconds somebody dies from smoking. The statistics are shocking. This is a global issue and everyone needs to help."
About 28 per cent of residents under 18 smoke, according to Dr Fadila Mohammed Sharif, the ministry's director of health education and promotion.
"In this campaign, we want to say, if you do choose not to smoke then you are smarter than the rest," Dr Sharif said.
The three-year campaign will target schools to help spread information about the health risks of tobacco.
"We want to grow a generation that refuses tobacco because of their knowledge and beliefs," said Wedad Al Maidoor, head of tobacco control at the ministry.
"This is more about prevention than reaction."
A study of 3,500 schoolchildren to discover how many smoke and their impressions of the habit is under way by the ministry, with the results expected later this year.
Doctors in Abu Dhabi say they are seeing more youngsters with smoking-related problems.
Dr Shuker Fares, a thoracic surgeon and pulmonologist at Al Noor Hospital, said the number of young smokers was on the rise.
"I don't know the exact number but when taking the history from the patient, especially when there are no parents with him and can talk freely, more than 70 per cent of these young people are smokers," Dr Fares said, referring to patients aged 18 to 30.
Medwakh and shisha are the most popular forms of smoking among Emiratis, he said, with cigarettes and shisha favoured by expatriates.
Young smokers get more chest infections and asthma attacks, Dr Fares said, and there are serious implications for future health.
"People who now smoke should know that, in the end, it will end by either chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or chronic lung disease or cancer.
"When the patient passes 40 years old that means he will be faced with these three diseases, if he is a chronic smoker."
Dr Saicharan Bodi, a respiratory physician at Burjeel Hospital, has also noted a worrying increase in young smokers, both male and female, with many starting at 15 and 16.
"Studies have clearly shown that the younger you start smoking, the addiction becomes more," Dr Bodi said.
Smoking is also the single biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, COPD and cardiovascular disease, Dr Bodi said, all of which are now being diagnosed in younger people.
The ministry's anti-smoking campaign will include a website in Arabic, www.athkauae.com, that will encourage young people who have quit smoking to share their stories.
The site will offer advice on how to stop, where to collect free nicotine patches and help with dealing with peer pressure to smoke.
An online petition will also collect signatures of those wanting to say no to tobacco.
"In this campaign, we want to say, if you do choose not to smoke then you are smarter than the rest," Dr Sharif said.
The campaign's launch, held at the Palace Hotel in Downtown Dubai, was attended by Mr Al Owais and several Government officials.
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