Second-hand survey

Oman’s new National Health Survey on Non-Communicable Diseases has found that 27.9 percent of the country’s population is exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke, according to a story in The Times of Oman.
The story indicated that this exposure was divided between the home, where 16.7 percent of people were exposed to second-hand smoke, and the workplace, where 11.2 percent of people were exposed. These figures look slightly odd in that they seem to rule out that anybody is exposed to tobacco smoke both at home and work.
The exposure rate was said to be slightly lower for non-Omanis within the population, 27.0 percent (16.3 percent at home and 10.7 percent at work) than for Omanis, 28.3 percent (16.8 percent at home and 11.5 percent at work).
The survey indicated also that 25.1 percent of women suffered exposure to second-hand smoke (15.2 percent at home and 8.9 percent at work), while the figure for men was 29.9 percent (18.1 percent at home and 11.8 percent at work).
The survey was carried out among 9,045 Omani and non-Omani families distributed across all governorates of the Sultanate in co-operation with the competent departments of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.
“In Oman, non-communicable diseases are responsible for about 70 per cent of the total deaths in the Sultanate, and in response to the growing burden of NCDs, the government of the Sultanate has adopted a multi-sectoral national action plan to prevent and combat NCDs,” Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health, was quoted as saying.
The survey indicated, too, that 15.8 percent of men used tobacco products (6.3 percent of Omanis and 14.2 percent of non-Omanis), while 0.5 percent of women said they used tobacco products.