Saudi health ministry launches adult tobacco survey

A customer smokes a cigarette in a cafe in Prague, Czech Republic, May 25, 2016. (Reuters)

• The survey is being carried out by the ministry under the supervision of the World Health Organization
• The survey will be carried out for two months on samples of 12,800 houses across the Kingdom

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that it will launch of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) among individuals 15 years and above, including both males and females
The survey is being carried out by the ministry in cooperation with the General Authority for Statistics under the supervision of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The survey will be carried out for two months on samples of 12,800 houses across all the Kingdom’s regions.
The survey is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, SPA said, adding that it is a unified global survey for all countries in the world and is considered one of the WHO’s surveillance systems for tobacco smoking prevalence aimed at determining tobacco use among adults and deciding ways of combating it.
This step is an extension of the health ministry’s efforts in combating smoking and warning of its harm.
The ministry has recently launched a smartphone app for reporting smoking violations in public areas or selling tobacco for individuals below 18 years.