By Wally Bah
Local findings have shown that the use of shisha amongst the youth folk in The Gambia, is on the rise. The findings put the figure at 8.4 percent, which officials decried as ‘quite worrying and alarming’.
A hookah or Shisha is a water pipe that allows a person to smoke tobacco, often combining it with sweet flavors, such as apple, chocolate, coconut, licorice, or watermelon.
People have used hookahs for centuries in ancient Persia and India. Today, people often smoke a hookah as a group, at home or in cafes or lounges.
The Programme Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), Ministry of Health, Mr. Omar Badjie, while noting that Shisha smoking is new in the country, also lamented that it’s becoming rampant among the youth-which is worrying.
The Programme Manager told Mansa Bank Online during this interview that, youth, especially, think that Shisha is not a form of tobacco product and that it is harmless compared to cigarette. On the contrary, he cautioned that, Shisha is far more dangerous than cigarette.
“One single puff of cigarette some are saying contains 400 different chemicals; some are saying 4000 different chemicals. And of these, 60% are poisonous. According to statistics, a single puff of Shisha is equivalent to three sticks. Some {people} are saying five sticks of cigarette,” Badjie reported.
Shisha, originated from the Middle East and certain areas of Asia, is a glass-bottomed water-pipe in which fruit-flavoured tobacco is covered with foil and roasted with charcoal. The tobacco smoke passes through a water chamber and is inhaled deeply and slowly.
According to a World Health Organisation study, the volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long Shisha session is estimated to be equivalent of smoking between 100 and 200 cigarettes.
However, The Gambia will be the fourth country in Africa to ban Shisha smoking if plans go by.
A hookah, as research indicated, has several universal components, including a water bowl, metal body, a head with holes in the bottom, and a flexible hose with a mouthpiece. The device works by burning charcoal that will then burn a tobacco mixture, as well as heat up the water. The smoke the charcoal generates helps move the tobacco through the water and hose and up to the mouthpiece.
Using a hookah, it has been gathered, ‘exposes’ a person to tobacco smoke, which contains harmful components, such as carbon monoxide. The water in the hookah does not filter out these components. Even if a person does not smoke directly from the hookah, they can still inhale secondhand smoke if they are nearby.
Some of the potential health effects of hookah smoke include: Complications of lung function, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchitis.
The Ministry’s Programme Manager for NCD disclosed to this medium that, they (Ministry) would “very soon go to Bars, restaurants, and hotels owners to sensitize them on the product”, and he warned that any one found wanting after that, would face the full force of the law. Badjie went on: “In fact, plan are on way to ban the importation of this product.”
