Dubai Healthcare Authority provides First Paediatric Nutrition Accredited Diploma in the Middle East

Nestlé Nutrition Institute collaborates with Dubai Health Authority to offer nutritionists the latest information on child nutrition 

Dubai, UAE. 24 June 2014: Dubai Healthcare Authority, with the support of Nestle Nutrition Institute (NNI), signed up more than 70 dieticians from across the Middle East to take part in American Association for Accreditation approved Dieticians Paediatric Nutrition Diploma, the first of its kind in the region.

Held at Habtoor Grand in Dubai, the first seminar was inaugurated by His Excellency engineer Easa Al Meedor, General Manager of Dubai Health Authority who gave the opening official talk of the event and joining him is His Excellency, Dr Ahmed Bin Kalban, CEO of the Hospitals Sector in Dubai Health Authority. The course was led by Dr. Wafaa Ayesh, Clinical Nutrition Director at Dubai Health Authority and Professor Sanja Kolaceck, an expert on child nutrition and pediatric gastroenterology at the Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Croatia. 

Registered nutritionists from across the Middle East will have to attend the first session this month followed by second session in October in order to get accredited.

Professor Sanja Kolaceck will cover a range of paediatric nutrition issues such as under nutrition and its clinical consequences and food allergies while Dr. Ayesh covered the role of probiotics in healthy nutrition, followed by Dr. Mohamad Abdel Wahab, Regional Medical Affairs Manager – Maternal & Infant Nutrition, Middle East, and his lecture about the role of specific probiotics strains in the Gastrointestinal tract comfort.
The diploma course is part of NNI's comittment to foster knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for nutrition in the region.

“I am extremely pleased to be involved in the first American Association for Accreditation diploma in the Middle East and look forward to welcoming the first class of the programme. The diploma will give experienced dieticians the opportunity to learn more about the key  healthcare priorities of children in the region,“ said Dr. Wafaa Ayesh, Clinical Nutrition Director at Dubai Health Authority.

Dr. Mohamad Abdel Wahab, added: “It is the NNI vision to actively communicate latest nutrition research and recommendations to pediatricians, nutritionists and health care professionals and ultiamtely benefit children in the region“. 

Nestlé Nutrition Institute is a not-for-profit organisation that shares leading science based information and education with health professionals, scientists and nutrition communities in an interactive way. Founded in 2005, the Institute fosters “Science for Better Nutrition” to contribute to the enhancement of the quality of people’s lives.