Activities across 14 primary healthcare centres and hospitals will highlight importance of heart health
United Arab Emirates, Dubai, 02 May, 2012: The Dubai Health Authority (DHA), in partnership with AstraZeneca Gulf, launched today, the Safe@Heart road show which will take place across all DHA primary healthcare centres and hospitals during the course of this year.
The road shows are aimed to educate the community about the importance of heart health.
Beginning today at Nadd Al Hamar Health Center, the road show will take place every month until December 2012, across all DHA primary healthcare centres and three prominently known DHA hospitals - Dubai, Rashid and Latifa Hospital.
As part of the road show, healthcare professionals will conduct screening for both cholesterol and hypertension - two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Once screened, participants will receive the results of their screening and advice on how to maintain their heart health.
Healthcare professionals will also provide a booklet containing critical information about heart health and ways to prevent cardiovascular disease. The booklet contains information on the importance of exercise, the ill-effects of tobacco use and tips on smoking cessation among other guidelines
Ahmad Bin Kalban, CEO of Primary Healthcare at the DHA said: "The campaign is aimed to reach out to community members through the PHC's as primary healthcare is frontline healthcare. In 2011, the 14 DHA primary healthcare centres, treated over 700,000 patients across various specialisations. Our aim is to ensure we also educate our patients as education and sustained awareness campaigns are vital to tackle lifestyle diseases and cardiovascular disease is one such disease which can be easily prevented through lifestyle modification. Our aim through this campaign is to reach out to the community through our PHCs which are spread across the various geographical areas of Dubai and educate community members about their health. Regular screening is the first step to ensure every person is aware of their health status and can take proactive measures to ensure optimum health."
"At AstraZeneca Gulf, we know that it is crucial to reach out to and integrate with all stakeholders in society to prevent cardiovascular disease," said Samer Al Hallaq, President, AstraZeneca Gulf. "For us, it's not just about providing medicines, but actually working with communities to assist them in getting and staying healthy. Programmes such as Safe@Heart are designed to better assist healthcare practitioners to achieve a healthier society. We want to go beyond the medication, because we believe that health connects us all"
Dr Amna Khamis Al Mazrooei, Director of Health Centres, Primary Healthcare Sector at the DHA said, "Educational initiatives are important to protect the health of the people in the Emirate. Through this campaign we will also educate patients who have undergone a heart attack on tips of how to maintain a healthy lifestyle thus ensuring a healthy heart."
She added that the aim of such awareness initiatives is to reverse the current lifestyle trends and improving patients' health and wellbeing as much as possible.
Safe@Heart is an educational programme created by AstraZeneca Gulf, in partnership with the Dubai Health Authority. The aim of the programme is to address the unmet medical needs of cardiovascular disease in the region, specifically when it comes to high levels of LDL-cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes,
Based on some studies in certain Gulf countries, there are estimates that up to 50% of people are adversely affected by high cholesterol[1]. Overweight and obesity, mainly driven by poor lifestyle choices, affects a large number of the population both globally and locally and UAE has a high prevalence of diabetes.
In terms of Cardiovascular disease, it is a known fact that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer both globally and locally, with one in four deaths in the UAE being attributed to CVDs.
Dr Kalban added, "These figures reiterate the need to conduct such awareness campaigns and educate our community members. If adults in the family adopt a healthy lifestyle, we can be sure that their children will automatically follow them, thus ensuring a healthy future for our future generations."
About the Dubai Health Authority
Initially, the Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS), which was created in 1973, was the functioning authority that almost exclusively focused on health service delivery.
Therefore, the DHA was created, in June 2007, by Law 13 issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, with an expanded vision to include strategic oversight for the complete health sector in Dubai and enhance private sector engagement.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and Industry is the President of the Dubai Health Authority. His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid is the Director General of the DHA
The DHA mandate has two distinct functions: Sectoral Oversight - For the entire health sector in Dubai- public, private and free zone and Service Delivery at DHA facilities.
For more information, please visit www.dha.gov.ae
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business with a primary focus on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation, oncology and infectious disease. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: www.astrazeneca.com.
For further information, please contact:
Heba Al Shaar
Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications
Dubai Health Authority
communication@dha.gov.ae
+9714 2197455
Natacha Raphael
Area Communications Lead
AstraZeneca - Middle East & Africa
natacha.raphael@astrazeneca.com
+971 50 420 7764
© Press Release 2012
