Qatar prepares for shisha smoking study

Smokers make up about 37 percent of Qatar’s residents over the age of 15, according to a Gulf Times story quoting statistics published by the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

About 95 per cent of the country’s adult smokers are men.

“In addition, around 15 percent of school children from grade seven, both male and female, aged 12 years and above, also smoke,” said Dr Ahmed al-Mulla, head of the HMC’s Smoking Cessation Clinic.

These figures were issued as the Clinic invited the public to take part in a clinical study on the effects of shisha use among smokers and non-smokers.

The three-year study, which began in April 2013, is a collaboration between HMC and the American University in Beirut, supported and funded by the Qatar National Research Fund.