Category: Health - Pray For Qatar

SMOKING

Image: Creative Commons

Smoking is prevalent throughout the Middle East, and Qatar is no exception. Between cigarettes and shisha (also called hubbly bubbly, hookah, and nargileh), smoking is acceptable and gaining popularity. Shisha smoking is a community event; whereas westerners get together over drinks or coffee, Qataris smoke together. Smoking shisha is more dangerous than cigarettes: some studies approximate several hundred times more dangerous. While cigarettes have filters to moderate smoke, shisha smoke passes directly into the mouth, throat, and lungs. Unfortunately people believe sucking smoke through the water removes tobacco’s impurities. In truth, water adds humidity to the smoke, which is then…

HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS

As more and more news arises surrounding the 2022 World Cup that is to be held in Doha, Qatar, the reality of the inhumane living conditions for immigrant workers is being brought to light. Several news articles have been written within the past few months describing the working and living conditions that immigrant workers are trapped in. Qatar employs a Kafala labor system; the immigrant worker takes out a loan to cover transportation to and housing in Qatar. Once in Qatar, the employer controls everything in regards to the immigrant’s life, including the right to leave the country. There are many…

HEALTH CONCERNS: OBESITY & DIABETES

The world’s richest nation suffers from first world problems: one study indicates half the country’s adults are obese and at least 17% suffer from diabetes. In America, often assumed to be the fattest, only 33% of adults are obese and 8% are diabetic. Diabetes is developing a decade younger than average, which is pushing up rates of illnesses like hypertension, partial paralysis, heart disease, and blindness. Experts predict by 2015 73% of Qatari women and 69% of Qatari men will be obese. Why? Qatar is full of fast food chains. Outdoor activities aren’t encouraged. Qatar is hot: average summer highs are a humid…

SMOKING

Image: Creative Commons

Smoking is prevalent throughout the Middle East, and Qatar is no exception. Between cigarettes and shisha (also called hubbly bubbly, hookah, and nargileh), smoking is acceptable and gaining popularity. Shisha smoking is a community event; whereas westerners get together over drinks or coffee, Qataris smoke together. Qatar residents purchase over 1 billion cigarettes per year and consume 12,000 cigarettes annually per person: more than Europe. Smoking is epidemic. Smoking shisha is more dangerous than cigarettes: some studies approximate several hundred times more dangerous. While cigarettes have filters to moderate smoke, shisha smoke passes directly into the mouth, throat, and lungs….

HEALTH CONCERNS: Obesity and Diabetes

The world’s richest nation suffers from first world problems: one study indicates half the country’s adults are obese and at least 17% suffer from diabetes. In America, often assumed to be the fattest, only 33% of adults are obese and 8% are diabetic. Diabetes is developing a decade younger than average, which is pushing up rates of illnesses like hypertension, partial paralysis, heart disease, and blindness. Experts predict by 2015 73% of Qatari women and 69% of Qatari men will be obese. Why? Qatar is full of fast food chains. Outdoor activities aren’t encouraged. Qatar is hot: average summer highs are a humid…