Make tobacco too pricey for youth: World Health Organisation

Divers hold the ‘No tobacco sale for 24 hours’ poster of the Dubai Municipality at Ski Dubai in Mall of the Emirates on Thursday to mark World No Tobacco Day being observed today. — Supplied photo

The UAE youth are spending most of their pocket money on buying tobacco products, including cigarettes, a recent survey has found.

A senior official of the Ministry of Health said the reason was cheap pricing of tobacco products and lack of reinforcement of the tobacco bylaws that curb selling of tobacco to youngsters.

In the UAE, a pack of cigarettes is currently available from as low as Dh5 to Dh9. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) has the second lowest average for cigarette prices. In some countries, a cigarette pack can be sold for less than one US dollar.

The results from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2013 that surveyed 4,000 13- to 15-year-olds across the country also suggested that a considerable number of children may start smoking in future by following the footsteps of the current generation who smokes.

“We are still in the process of compiling results and cannot give details at this time,” said Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the UAE National Committee for Tobacco Control at the ministry who has helped draft the UAE’s Anti-Tobacco Law.

However, increasing tobacco prices may not be happening any soon in the UAE despite a call by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on this World No Tobacco Day that is marked each year on May 31 to raise tobacco taxes and put in price policies as a way to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among the youth.

“In principle, since we have signed the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) agreement with WHO, we should implement new taxes but this is still a proposal pending with the Ministry of Finance,” said Dr Al Maidoor.

“The taxation issue is being discussed at the GCC level and we cannot say when and how much the increase will be once it is in place,” she said.

The UAE has currently imposed 100 per cent tax on tobacco products and a proposal to increase it by another 100 is still being discussed.

Preliminary results from the survey also showed that the number of children who did not smoke any form of tobacco had increased from 12 per cent to 16 per cent.

The survey also revealed that the number of smokers had increased to 29.2 per cent as compared to 28 per cent in 2002.

“The results hold promise on the fact that education on tobacco is bearing fruit,” said Dr Al Maidoor.

The last such survey done in the UAE was in 2002.

The WHO said that higher taxes on tobacco can help raise more revenue for governments and health programmes as well as reduce tobacco use.

“By raising tobacco taxes,” said Dr Ala Alwan, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, “we can reduce tobacco use and prevent young people from starting to smoke.”

On average, a 10 per cent price increase on a pack of cigarettes would be expected to reduce demand for cigarettes by about four per cent in high-income countries and by about five per cent in low and middle-income countries where lower incomes tend to make people more sensitive to price changes. Children and adolescents are also more sensitive to price increases than adults allowing price interventions to have a significant impact on this age group.

Tobacco use increasing

Tobacco use is increasing in many countries in the region, said WHO. Cigarettes are the most prevalent form of regulated tobacco, but other forms of tobacco are also prevalent such as waterpipe and smokeless tobacco.

According to the WHO, smoking prevalence has reached as high as 47 per cent among young males and females aged 13-15 years in certain countries.

Waterpipe consumption has placed the Eastern Mediterranean Region second globally in male tobacco use, following the Western Pacific Region.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com