Staff Reporter

Over one-third of the adult male population smokes – and with no protection for passive smokers, Qatar is in the grip of a smoking epidemic, according to a study conducted by the 12th Gulf Forum for Tobacco Control and Prevention.

In a country where smoking typically starts at 15 years of age, and with no studies on tobacco prevalence, consumption and related disease, it is almost impossible to gauge the severity of Qatar’s situation accurately, said a press release.

Minstry of Health representatives from Qatar have just returned from attending the seminar held in Saudi Arabia.

With this in mind Dr Ahmed Abdul Kareem al-Mulla, a senior official of the National Anti-Smoking Committee, Qatar, attended the 12th Gulf Forum for Tobacco Control and Prevention.

The Gulf Forum was a milestone in the history of GCC public health and international collaboration. Speakers from the World Health Organisation - both from Geneva and the region - were on hand to discuss the Global Framework for Smoking Prevention and ways to implement this framework in the GCC.

WHO member states have already approved the global framework, which focuses on taxes, labelling, advertising, liability and financing. By taking this step, the GCC will join other member states in investing resources from the Ministries of Health, Education and Charity to raise awareness of smoking hazards and promote the health and wellbeing of its people.

Killing one in 10 adults, smoking is the second major cause of death world-wide.

Half of the people smoking today - about 650mn people - will eventually be killed by tobacco, said Rany Victor, spokesman for Nicotinell by Novartis Consumer Health.

Dr al-Mulla said: "If we really want to help people we need to press the government to ban smoking in public places and ensure the law is implemented. Some studies show that children as young as 13 are smoking in Qatar, even though there are supposed to be laws in place to prevent this."