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Peers to educate students about risks of tobacco use

DUBAI - Students prone to using tobacco as a stress reliever will be taught by their peers about the dangers of tobacco use under a new initiative launched by the Dubai Health Authority.

Up to 80,000 students aged between 12 and 21 years from across Dubai will be part of the peer-to-peer training programme titled “Students Working Against Tobacco” (SWAT). Logistics of the yearlong initiative are being worked out and it will be implemented in schools and colleges this month.

“Through our smoking awareness campaigns which we have conducted in 2010 and this year, we realised that there is an urgent need to create regular community awareness activities with regard to tobacco use because of the significant number of youngsters using tobacco,” said Dr Hanan Obaid, Head of Community Health Services Programmes Section at the DHA.

“They are our productive population and are at a high risk of developing diseases caused by long-term use of tobacco.”In 2010, the primary healthcare section of the DHA conducted 98 anti-smoking campaigns targeting 6,221 people across various schools, colleges, malls, government institutions as well as sports clubs.

From the data collected and analysed, Dr Obaid said there was a need to reach out to the schools in Dubai. A total of 2,457 students in government and private schools in Dubai were screened. Prevalence of tobacco use among school students in Dubai was found to be 14.6 per cent while the percentage of passive smoking among school children is 29.1.

“These are youngsters under the age of 20 using tobacco, so we can only imagine the long-term health complications that they are at a risk of developing.”

Dr Obaid said 11.2 per cent consumed cigarettes, 2.2 per cent used shisha, 1.9 per cent used the pipe, 0.8 per cent used cigar and 0.8 per cent used chewing tobacco. “We have conducted several campaigns in the past across schools in Dubai. However, we see the need to regularly reach out to children and adolescents and we plan to implement this policy in 2012,” she said.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com