The Libyan government announced that it is to ban smoking in public places, and the media advertising of all tobacco products. The decision announced by the Libyan cabinet also prohibits selling cigarettes to any person less than 18 years old.

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Over the past decade, tobacco smoking using a waterpipe (hookah, narghile, shiha) has become a world-wide epidemic, with current use rates approaching those of cigarettes in many populations. It is particularly prevalent in the Arab world, and marketing efforts have played to the cultural and social aspects of waterpipe use. A nascent but growing evidence base unanimously points to the high potential for deleterious health effects of waterpipe use, including nicotine addiction. At the same time, waterpipe tobacco smoking remains peripheral to tobacco control efforts. The time is now ripe to raise the dialogue on this issue by having an international conference dedicated purely to the waterpipe.

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