The Health Ministry has developed several educational programs to raise students’ awareness about the harmful effects of smoking hookah (water pipe), said Ali Akbar Sayyari, deputy minister of health, at a meeting of medical universities on the status of tobacco and hookah smoking in the country. “Studies indicate that 51.2% of Tehrani students have smoked hookah at some point; also 31% have tried cigarettes,” IRNA quoted him as saying. According to figures, hookah smoking showed a downward trend till the year 2007. But in 2009, a survey on smoking suggested it had increased and hookah smoking had doubled in 13-16 year olds.
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