Dubai, June 7th, 2012 (WAM) -- The Ministry of Health has launched the GCC awareness campaign of non-infectious diseases for the years 2011-2014 under the theme "Towards Healthy Trends and Lifestyles".

The campaign was approved by the executive office of the GCC Health Ministers Council in a new concept to control and raise the awareness of the community members with the impacts of non-infectious diseases from a gulf perspective.

The awareness campaign was launched in the United Arab Emirates during the press conference which was organized by the Ministry of Health yesterday at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai on the sidelines of the 14th Gulf Tobacco Control Symposium.

Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, Assistant Undersecretary for Health Policies at the Ministry of Health during the press conference stated that the campaign comes as that the campaign comes as part of the common efforts of the GCC countries to control non-infectious diseases which are considered one of the main death causes in the world generally and the gulf region specifically.

He emphasized that the campaign aims for improving the health of individuals and community members in the GCC region through protection and elimination of non-infectious diseases, health awareness of their negative impacts and enhancement of health behaviors by having healthy meals and physical education practice.

He said: "The campaign aims for avoiding negative and bad habits and behaviors such as smoking and encouraging the society, patients and families to control non-infectious diseases and the impacts. The campaign encourages societal partnerships and the role of media in raising the awareness of non-infectious diseases and their effect on the health of societies".

Furthermore, Dr. Tawfiq Bin Ahmed Khoja, Director General, Executive Office of GCC Health Ministers Council stated that the gulf non-infectious campaign gets all the support from all the health sectors in the council noting the necessity of the cooperation of all competent authorities to achieve the goals of the campaign.

The campaigns activities will activate the societal partnerships, increase the communitys awareness of the dangers of non-infectious diseases and enhance the role of the media in disseminating the health awareness among individuals and community members.

The campaign also includes a number of activities and events to be implemented and supervised by the health education and enhancement departments in the medical districts by making free diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure tests as well as awareness seminars and workshops about the ways of making healthy meals, importance of home physical education practice and self-examination tests.

The health education and enhancement department under the umbrella of the health policies sector in the Ministry of Health began the first steps to implement the campaign by organizing training workshops for health educators who will be supervising the campaign.

The first introductory workshop was held in Ajman for 31 health educators in Ajman and Um Al Qiwain health educators to introduce them with the goals, objectives and strategies of the campaign.

The workshop reviewed all kinds of non-infectious diseases and protection methods. The trainees were provided with practical sessions on the ways of filling in the campaigns implementation forms and documents.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Health hosted the 14th Gulf Tobacco Control Symposium under the title "Tobacco Control Reality and Expectations" in cooperation with the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office and the executive office of the GCC Health Ministers Council.

Speakers from the World Health Organization and Middle Eastern were Dr. Edward Turson, representative of the world health organization delivered a speech about economies of tobacco control and smuggling while Dr. Andrew Mitchell, Commercial Legal Consultant in the Law and Humanitarian Institute highlighted the Australian experience in this regard.

The scientific sessions included open discussions and analysis of various important topics such as the health warnings on tobacco products, tobacco ban in public places and positive impacts of tobacco control regulations and reduction of non-infectious diseases.

The symposium also reviewed the efforts and accomplishments of the GCC council in tobacco control by displaying the successful experiences of each country in order to exchange their expertise in achieving the best accomplishments in the field of tobacco control.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.