Dubai: Pregnant women who visited Al Muhaisnah Medical Fitness Centre in Dubai last week received a selection of books as part of a joint initiative from Kalimat Group and the Ministry of Health and Prevention called ‘Kitabi Al Awal’ (My First Book).
Aimed at fostering good reading habits among children from an early age, the initiative will work to distribute a total of 5,000 bags of books to expectant mothers in the UAE.
It has so far seen reading material being distributed to a number of health care and medical centres across the city.
The book distribution at Al Muhaisnah Medical Fitness Centre was the second in the initiative after its first batch of bags was delivered to pregnant women attending medical centres in Sharjah.
Dr Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand, assistant undersecretary for Health Centres and Clinics at the Ministry of Health and Prevention, said the initiative aligns with the UAE National Strategy for Reading which is aimed at instilling a love of reading in children in the early years.
“This campaign has been designed to connect mothers, babies and books and to inculcate reading as an important activity at the very start of family life.”
Tamer Saeed, managing director of Kalimat Group, said they are keen to foster reading as a noble habit in the Arab world in general and in the UAE in particular.
“We place a special priority on children, as they are the cornerstone of building a knowledge-based society,” he said. “The reading material being distributed has been carefully selected and is according to the highest educational criteria. We have also included a guide book that contains tips for mothers on the importance of reading to their children as soon as they are born.”
