AMMAN — Already saddled with one of the world's highest rates of smoking,
Jordan has seen the numbers lighting up soar since
COVID-19 restrictions began
last year, sparking fears of a double epidemic.
اضافة اعلان
Mounir Shana, who sells hookah waterpipes in the capital Amman, was rarely
seen without a cigarette dangling from his lips even before the crisis.
But restrictions imposed by the government have increased his intake.
"I've been smoking more and more for the past year because of the
psychological pressure of lockdowns," said 24-year-old Shana, lighting a
fresh cigarette from the butt of his previous smoke as he talked.
"From one to two packs a day before the epidemic, I went to four to
five today."
A survey by the University of Jordan's Center for Strategic Studies in April
2020 found 52 percent said they were smoking more since pandemic restrictions
began.
Shana spends some JD300 dinars each month just to fuel his smoking addiction.
"I know the dangers and I suffer from chest pains," he said.
"But what do you want me to do? When I am locked between four walls at
home, tobacco gives me psychological comfort."
Passive smoking
danger
Jordan has one of the highest rates of tobacco smokers in the world, with 70
percent of men lighting up, according to the
World Health Organization in 2015
— second only to Indonesia, at 76 percent.
Eight out of 10 men aged 18 to 69 smoke, according to government statistics.
Jordanians smoke an average of 23 cigarettes per day.
But medics fear the situation has grown worse since then.
"With the pandemic, tobacco consumption has increased because of the
psychological state of the population," said Abeer Mowaswas, a health
ministry information official.
Since the pandemic broke out, Jordan has imposed a series of restrictions,
including curfews.
As the
COVID-19 pandemic drags on in Jordan — recording over 700,000 cases
including 8,800 deaths in a country of 10 million — smoking adds to the worries.
The WHO warns that since smoking impairs lung function — making it harder
for the body to fight off respiratory diseases — smokers are likely "at
higher risk of developing severe
COVID-19 outcomes and death."
Rates for women in Jordan are lower.
But while a fifth of women smoke tobacco or e-cigarettes, over
three-quarters suffer from second-hand smoke at home, from family members
lighting up.
"My husband doesn't stop smoking; whether he is happy or angry, he
always has a cigarette in his mouth. At 41, his teeth are yellow from
nicotine," said Hanane, a 37-year-old housewife.
"But the worst part is that he smokes at home in front of me and our
four children. There's nothing we can do about it. We have become passive
smokers and when I tell him off, he tells me he can't stop."
9,000 deaths a year
Faced with the problem, the government has increased the number of addiction
centers to help people stop smoking from five to 20, launched a social media
campaign, and set up telephone hotlines, said Mowaswas.
Over half of deaths in Jordan every year are due to smoking, she said.
"Every year, 9,000 people die because of tobacco and tobacco-related
diseases," she said, adding that tobacco costs the state some $300
million.
Last year, the government banned smoking in enclosed public places, but from
cafes to malls, the rules are widely flouted.
An MP was even photographed during a parliamentary debate having puff on a
cigarette — in front of a sign that read "no smoking".
Hala Boukerdenna, a WHO official in Jordan, stressed the need "to make
additional efforts, especially to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke."
A smoker for 33 years, bus driver Mohammad Abou Khadra chose a center in the
east of Amman for a final attempt to quit.
The 53-year-old father of five, who suffers from diabetes, hypertension, and
shortness of breath, hopes this time it will work.
But nothing is guaranteed, said Dr Anas Al-Mohtaseb, who is supervising his
treatment.
The medic treated 125 patients last year — with a success rate of just over
one in five.
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