Water-Pipe Smoking (Baraku) Use among Youths in Thailand

Abstract

The water-pipe (Baraku) is now a popular tobacco smoking technique among youths worldwide. It is becoming popular in Thailand as well. Many Thai youths know about and use water-pipe smoking in their daily lives. The motivations of using waterpipe smoking among Thai young people are curiosity, friends’ persuasion, and social interaction during night trips and parties. Some youths use a water-pipe regularly on a daily basis and have misperceptions of its health effects. Thai youths are mislead about the serious health effects created by water-pipe smoking by many sources including word-of-mouth advertising, and marketing via the Internet, especially social networking sites. Therefore, an appropriate health educational program for young people should be initiated by health care providers and related organizations. Responsible organizations should enforce legislation, announce the policy, and find strategies to decrease water-pipe tobacco smoking among Thai youths.