DHA and DecideTM Join Efforts for the “Diabetes Risk Factor Awareness Campaign” in Dubai

Campaign will build awareness and educate the community on the risk factors that cause diabetes, help them manage the condition and also monitor undiagnosed cases

Dubai, UAE, September 04th, 2013: Dubai Health Authority (DHA) – Primary Healthcare Centers (PHC), and DecideTM Diabetes Programme, supported by its partners MPC, Merck Serono and Lifescan have signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) for the ‘Diabetes Risk Factor Awareness Campaign' in Dubai. The objective this campaign is to build awareness and educate the community on the risk factors that cause diabetes; this shall allow to prevent and even detect the condition at an early stage.

As part of the campaign a ‘Risk Factor Survey' will be distributed to all the patients at DHA's primary healthcare centres. The patients that score high results in the diabetes risk factor survey will be further diagnosed at those centers. A special DHA-PHC medical team will be dedicated to follow up with patients that need further diagnosis and proper management. The result of the survey will then be shared with the public to educate and raise further awareness.

Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Saif bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Health Care - DHA, said, “We are working towards a healthier community in Dubai. As part of this approach DHA has embarked on several initiatives to tackle chronic diseases and support the society.  The implementation of this survey across our primary healthcare centres is essential so that high-risk individuals can take timely action to prevent the onset of diabetes.”

Dr. Mohamed Naser Farghaly, Director Health Affair Department, DHA, said, “Early detection of Type 2 Diabetes is very important and critical because this type of diabetes is preventive. This initiative will start at DHA's Primary Healthcare Centers, and we are looking forward to extend it later on to the other medical centers across Dubai. This campaign has a two-pronged approach that will be conducted by PHC assigned medical team. The first one is a non-invasive initiative that identifies through a survey the high risk individuals who might end up with type 2 diabetes in the near future. The second stage includes further screening for high-risk individuals and those diagnosed with the condition will be followed up by DHA's primary healthcare professionals. It ‘s worth mentioning that this initiative reaches out to a larger community compared to randomized screening.”

Jan Felton, CEO of Modern Pharmaceutical Company, the founder of DecideTM Diabetes Support Programme said, “MPC is proud to present along with its partners Merck Serono and LifeScan  DecideTM  programme as we care about the community and through DecideTM we extend our care to those with Diabetes. MPC is focused on supporting the healthcare sector and we aim to bring the latest technologies and treatments for the best interests of the patients.  We are delighted to tie up with DHA in this campaign and strive to maintain a healthier community in UAE.

“One of the main scope of DecideTM program is providing  educational awareness for the community against Diabetes and its risk factors in an attempt to prevent or limit the condition. DecideTM has the pleasure to support DHA in its initiative against diabetes. We trust those joint efforts between DHA and DecideTM will help serve the community better.

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and DecideTM have conducted close to 8500 blood sugar screening activities at various establishments such as hospitals, organizations and clubs in the UAE since September 2011 to raise awareness on diabetes prevention and management.

Through “Diabetes Risk Factor Awareness Campaign”, we will help in raising the awareness, and specifically reaching out to those with high risks so they may probably manage their condition before it starts, said, ” Wadad Aboul Khoudoud, Decide Diabetes Programme Director.

Decide™ not only seeks to educate people affected by diabetes, but is also involved in helping family members understand how they can better support those who live with the condition. This is attained through promoting healthy eating habits, encouraging physical exercise and overall management and monitoring of the various areas of the body that can be impacted by diabetes. Globally this condition has the reputation of being present in an individual without symptoms for many years.