On behalf of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of Dubai Health Authority, H.E. Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed Al Owais, UAE Minister of Health and chairman of the board of trustees of Hamdan Medical Award, will open tomorrow, Thursday, the 1st Non-Communicable diseases Congress in the UAE at the event center, Intercontinental hotel, Dubai Festival City.

Prof. Najib Al Khaja, Secretary General, Hamdan Medial Award and the president of the conference said: The conference is organized by the Award in cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Health, Dubai Health Authority, Health Authority - Abou Dhabi, Emirates Diabetes Society, Emirates Cardiac Society, Emirates Society of Nephrology and Emirates Respiratory Society, and the Oncology Services, Mafraq Hospital and supported by Majid Al Futtaim Charity Organization. 

“With the participation of the World Health Organization, 35 speakers and about 650 doctors and specialists will attend the conference from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland , Switzerland, Cameroon and the United States. The participants will receive 15 CME hours accredited from the UAE Ministry of Health”, Al Khaja said.

 

“According to the United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration in September 2011, the chronic non-communicable diseases (diabetes, cancers, cardiac, kidney and respiratory diseases) have been identified as a threat to socio-economic development. Such diseases necessitate the inclusion of NCD prevention and control plans within the government programs and supporting the multisectoral cooperation among health and non-health government agencies, private sectors, academic centers and civil and international organizations”, he said.

 

“The conference reflects the fruitful cooperation among the concerned institutions within the United Arab Emirates to activate laws and legislations aim at reducing the rates of NCDs which are responsible for almost 67% of the total deaths in the UAE”.

 

“I am so proud of the participation of the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office in the conference which co-organizes the pre-congress symposium, on Thursday January 9th, on the public health aspects of non-communicable diseases. The symposium includes four scientific sessions and 11 lectures and deals with the UAE program to control the spread of NCDs and the ways to be activated on the ground on the light of the WHO's program and the experiences of many countries in that regard” he said.

 

“The scientific program of the conference, from10 to 11 January, includes 6 scientific sessions and 26 lectures on pre-diabetes and its impact on public health, diabetes in the Middle East and North Africa, the barriers to stop the diabetes epidemic and the UAE’s plans to tackle the epidemic of obesity”, he added.

 

“Additionally, the conference will discuss the national strategies that adopt the WHO guidelines for salt and fat intake reduction, hypertension control, the medical viewpoint to government and policymakers for the implementation of the NCD prevention and control, the importance of physical exercise, pharmacological therapies for obesity management, sleep apnea and  cardiovascular diseases, cancers in the UAE, cancer prevention, smoking cessation  in addition to the global need to prevent the chronic kidney diseases and the UAE experience in this field”, Al Khaja said.

 

 

“Five workshops are to be organized on the usage of the imaging modalities for cardiac assessment of patients with heart failure, in collaboration with the Italian University of Padua, simulation training for atrial fibrillation, invasive procedures and pulmonary hypertension”, he added.

It is worth mentioning that Prof. Jaakko Tuomileh, Finland, the winner of the Grand Hamdan Award, in the Award’s 6th term 2009-2010 on the topic of diabetes,

is among the speakers of the conference.