AMMAN –
On Wednesday, the WHO released a report revealing that Jordan is one of six
nations where tobacco use rates are rising, while rates continue to fall in
other areas of the world, reaching 1.25 billion adults who use tobacco.
اضافة اعلان
According
to the report "Trends in Prevalence of
Tobacco Use 2000-2030," six
nations continue to see an increase in tobacco use; three are in the Middle
East, namely Jordan, Egypt, and Oman, while the others are Congo, Indonesia,
and Moldova, Al-Mamlaka TV reported.
The
report ranked Jordan as the
highest tobacco-using country in the Middle East,
with a smoking rate of 36.3 percent, followed by Lebanon at 34 percent and
Egypt at 24.7 percent.
According
to the research, tobacco use rates in Jordan among people aged 15 and above in
2022 averaged 36.3 percent for both sexes, with a high of 44.3 percent and a
low of 28.3 percent.
On the
same scale, the crude prevalence rate for men averaged 57.8 percent in the same
year and is predicted to peak at 70 percent and fall to 45.5 percent. Females
averaged 13.4 percent, with a high of 16.8 percent and a minimum of 9.9
percent.
The WHO
anticipated that Jordan will have 2.774 million tobacco users and
smokers in
2022, with 2.291 million men and 483,000 women.
The WHO
projects that the rate of tobacco users in Jordan will rise to 37.1 percent in 2025, up from 35.8 percent in
2020. This ratio is anticipated to increase to 38.3 percent by 2030.
The
percentage of tobacco smokers among Jordanian males was 52.6 percent in 2000
and 57.2 percent in 2020, and it is predicted to rise to 58.6 percent and 60.2
percent in 2025 and 2030, respectively.
According
to the survey, the percentage of female tobacco users was 9.7 percent in 2000
and 12.9 percent in 2020, with rates predicted to rise to 13.9 percent and 15
percent in 2025 and 2030, respectively.
In a
previous interview with Al-Mamlaka TV, Jordan's Minister of Health, Firas
Al-Hawari, criticized the country's high smoking rates and its ranking as one
of the top three countries in the world in terms of smoking rates, at a time
when countries around the world are working to reduce smoking rates to less
than 5%.
Hawari
warned against e-cigarettes, stating that the nicotine level is substantially higher than in traditional cigarettes.
He
stated that the rates of cancer and heart disease caused by passive smoking in
Jordan have reached 25-30 percent.
He
pointed out that the negative exposure rate to smoking has reached more than 65
percent, explaining that children are exposed to passive smoking from tobacco,
hookah, and e-cigarettes in their homes.
He
pointed out that a child who is exposed to passive smoking consumes 20 times
the toxic substance in tobacco. Among every four cigarettes smoked by the
father or mother, the child smokes one from exposure and may warm up to
nicotine and become addicted to it in the future.
Preventative measures in Jordan
Hawari
stated that the ministry conducts periodic inspection campaigns on all
institutions, including monitoring, follow-up, and statistics registration,
indicating that lowering smoking rates requires everyone's commitment to
enforcing the smoking ban in public institutions and official departments such
as hospitals, schools, and so on.
He
added that the Ministry of Health has 27 clinics to quit smoking, in addition
to the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) and a clinic at the University of
Jordan, indicating that the number of visitors to smoking cessation clinics
during the first half of this year reached about 4,500 smokers, of whom about 9
percent quit smoking.
According to the amended Public Health Law No. (11) of 2017,
Article 63 states that anyone who smokes any tobacco product in a public place
where smoking is prohibited will be punished with imprisonment for not less
than one month and not more than three months, or a fine of not less than JD100
and not more than JD200.
Also, anyone who allows smoking of any tobacco products in a
public place where smoking is prohibited, fails to announce the smoking ban in
a public place, sells cigarettes individually, or distributes tobacco product
imitations to those under the age of 18 shall be punished by imprisonment for
three months to six months, or a fine of not less than JD1000 and not more than
JD3000.
Furthermore, anyone who smokes tobacco products in public or
private nurseries, kindergartens, and schools, or who allows others to do so,
shall face a fine of not less than JD1000 and not more than JD3000, or
imprisonment for a term of not less than three months and not more than six
months.
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
