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Door-to-door survey to fight tobacco use

DUBAI - A door-to-door survey from December to assess the knowledge and attitudes towards tobacco use among adults will fill gaps in legislation in the UAE, health officials said on Wednesday.

The massive survey will randomly select 8,000 households to include both UAE nationals and expatriates aged 15 and above. Officials said that the “society’s changing attitudes” towards smoking meant that an equal number of males and females will be surveyed. Low wage workers would also be included.

“Our culture is changing and smoking has become socially acceptable, even by young females,” said Dr Fatima Al-Ewa, Regional Advisor, Tobacco-Free Initiative Programme at the World Health Organisation. “We are still in denial in the Arab countries but I know of cases where the father offers cigarettes to his son to become friends,” she said. “Smoking is no longer being rejected by society.”

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2011-2012 is being held in the UAE and Qatar simultaneously for the first time and will produce data that can be compared. The field work will start by December while the results are expected to be released on May 31, 2012 which is also World No Tobacco Day.

“Results of youth survey done earlier in the UAE indicate that youngsters between 13 and 15 years are ready to initiate smoking within a year,” said Dr Fatima.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com