An ongoing study reveals a disturbing uptake of shisha by schoolchildren in major towns in Kenya.
The study shows 60 per cent of secondary school students in select towns have smoked shisha, the banned waterpot-based tobacco.
The study is being carried out by a team of doctors from Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu and Nanyuki, and has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health. Only 10 per cent of these youths have smoked cigarettes, falsely believing shisha is harmless.
Research by WHO and the US Center for Disease Control shows shisha could be more dangerous than cigarettes. WHO says a one-hour shisha session is equivalent to smoking about 100 to 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.
The Kenyan survey - covering Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kilifi, Meru and Nanyuki towns - started in June last year and will end next month. Preliminary results show 12.6 per cent of high school students in these regions are now regular shisha smokers, probably already addicted to the habit. In universities, the number of active users rises to 20 per cent.
“In Nairobi alone, the survey conducted on youngsters aged between 15-20 years, discovered that 58 per cent of respondents had smoked shisha at least once in their life time,” Dr Daniel Rambei, the principal investigator, said.
Rambei is a doctor at the Coast Provincial General Hospital in Mombasa. “The Coastal region was evaluated that 52.6 per cent of youngsters and 29.8 per cent above 30 years were regular smokers,” Rambei said.