Students focus on shisha

Preliminary results from a study being undertaken in Kenya has shown that 60.0 percent of urban secondary-school students have smoked shisha, according to a story in The Star.
The results show, too, that 12.6 percent of high-school students are regular shisha smokers. In universities, the proportion of active users rises to 20.0 percent.
The study, which has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health, is being carried out by a team of doctors from Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu and Nanyuki, in the towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kilifi, Meru and Nanyuki. It was started in June and is due to be completed next month.
What effect the study results will have is unclear because Kenya banned shisha smoking and related activities just before the end of last year.
According to a story in The Nation, the ban emanated from the Ministry of Health and was the subject of a gazette notice that said: ‘No person shall import, manufacture, sell, offer for sale, use, advertise, promote, facilitate or encourage shisha smoking in Kenya’.
The Star reported that research by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had shown that shisha ‘could be more dangerous than cigarettes’. WHO said a one-hour shisha session was equivalent to smoking about 100-200 cigarettes.
“Smokers therefore expose themselves to larger amounts of dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer, heart diseases, respiratory diseases and trigger adverse effects during pregnancy,” WHO said in its report, Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Health Effects, Research Needs and Recommended Action by Regulators.