Dubai: A public health campaign dubbed ‘Feel the Beat’ is helping UAE residents learn the importance of heart health through music.
According to the free campaign, which launches on Thursday in the UAE and across the Gulf by Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) at its 19 malls across the region, how you feel can be gleaned from the beat of your heart, similar to music.
The screening will be available, for example, at Deira City Centre Mall from September 1.
Now in its seventh year, ‘Feel the Beat’ is appealing to younger generations by offering each participant the chance to digitally record their heartbeat — which has a unique rhythm — and a professional DJ will set it to music that can be digitally transferred to the person and then shared on social media to further advance awareness of heart disease.
The central thrust of the campaign is informing people of the dangers of cardio vascular disease (CVD), a health condition that threatens two in every 10 women in UAE.
In the last seven years, nearly 8,000 women underwent the preventive heart screening, said an MAF spokesperson.
Dr Arif Nooriyani, CEO of Al Qasimi Hospital and head of the cardiac surgery department of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, spoke at the preventive heart health event ‘Feel the Beat’ on Tuesday.
“In the last few years, the number of women suffering from CVD in the UAE has risen from 10 to nearly 18 per cent. Nine out of 10 women have an increased risk of developing CVD due to various reasons such as smoking, obesity, poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyle and stress and nearly 50 per cent of those having CVD are not even aware of the disease. This innovative way of knowing your heart health takes away the fear of visiting a health care specialist and also educates women effortlessly,” said Dr Nooriyani.
“Normally a healthy heart has 60-80 beats per minute. The ideal would be to have 72 beats per minute at the resting rate. It could go up to 140-180 beats during or after an exercise. So, when a woman comes for preventive screening, she can know whether her beat is within the health parameters or she needs some additional screening,” he said.
Omar Shunnar, CEO of MAF health care that is partnering in the event, said: “According to a study conducted by Ernst and Young in the UAE, CVD cases will go up by 400 per cent between 2008-2025. We are all stakeholders in the cause of community health and in order to handle it well there are two aspects — the preventive and the curative. Preventive screening, education and awareness will make people more sensitive to their personal health and only then will they seek curative assistance.”
