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.

This conference will bring together waterpipe researchers from the Arab world and across the globe. The meeting aims to make waterpipe tobacco smoking a central concern by bringing together renowned researchers and tobacco control veterans to enhance the visibility of the significant impact of waterpipe smoking on global health, economis, and personal lives; to examine the state of knowledge concerning waterpipe smoking; and to issue an authoritative report containing a set of findings and recommendations on the subject. It will also help to build research capacity in this critical area in the region. In addition to engaging international experts in waterpipe tobacco research, the meeting will also engage key experts in various aspects of research and regulation pertaining to cigarettes with the aim to learn as much as possible from the history of the cigarette epidemic. 

Documents

Preconference Training Workshop on Nicotine Dependence and Waterpipe Smoking (English)