Smokers in UAE urged to kick habit

ABU DHABI -- The 16th World Congress on Tobacco or Health urged UAE nationals to kick the smoking habit to reduce risk factor for diseases causing  millions of deaths every year.

Currently, over a quarter of people in the UAE smoke, which the UAE Vision 2021 sets out to bring down to 16 percent, with the help of a nationwide ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces now in place.

Smoking kills nearly six million people a year globally, including over 600,000 non-smokers who have been exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organization.

It is thought that without intervention, the number will increase to more than eight million a year by 2030.