Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and in presence of His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) ; Sanofi Gulf and DHA pledged today to continue their efforts to fight against diabetes and reach out to community members with an aim to reduce the prevalence of the disease.

The campaign, in its fourth year will take place until the end of 2012.This year, the campaign will reach out to all governmental bodies in the Emirate of Dubai to conduct free health screenings and educate staff members about how to prevent diabetes as well as educate diabetics on how to better manage their condition so as to avoid any further complications. 

Since the inception of this campaign in 2010, DHA and Sanofi have targeted all 14 primary healthcare centres and have already reached out to a number of sections in society including school children in order to inculcate the importance of healthy lifestyle among the future generations of our society.

This campaign is a part of DHA's multi-disciplinary approach to tackling the disease. 

As part of its strategy to fight this condition, the DHA has joined hands with various stakeholders including the private sector and the international healthcare community to strengthen its fight against diabetes.

H.E. Al Murooshid said, "Educating the community to make lifestyle changes is one of the main challenges facing healthcare institutions globally, unless individuals themselves do not make necessary changes in their diet and exercise patterns, we cannot achieve much in terms of controlling the prevalence of lifestyle diseases and that's where the role of public outreach and advocacy takes centre stage. At the DHA we strongly believe in reaching out to various sections of society in partnership with the private sector and the international healthcare organisations."

His Excellency extended his sincere thanks to His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority for his continued support towards the DHA initiatives. 

His Excellency highlighted that the DHA has been working on a multi-disciplinary strategy to control this condition and its complications. Training and educating primary healthcare professionals in diabetes management is an important part of this strategy. 

Dr Mohamed Farghaly, Head of Acute and Chronic care, Primary Health Care Sector at the DHA said that the aim of the campaign is to conduct mass awareness initiatives to ensure early detection especially in cases where people are pre-diabetic because if they follow a healthy diet and exercise pattern they can prolong or even reverse the chances of developing diabetes. For diabetics also this campaign is important to ensure they are educated on how to manage the disease effectively."

He said that from the beginning of this year, the DHA has already conducted this campaign across six governmental organisations and will continue this campaign across the remaining governmental organisations until the end of this year. 

George Morcos, General Manager, Sanofi -Gulf said: "As a global healthcare leader, we strongly believe in reaching out to the community to educate them on health awareness programs as part of our social responsibility initiatives. Considering the prevalence of diabetes in the UAE and globally, it is imperative to reach out to the society and educate them to ensure they take charge of their health and we are committed to this cause."

The campaign, in its fourth year, will take place until the end of 2012.