Dubai: Mall visitors can now get a free health screening as they drop in for their shopping.
The screening could result in the detection of lifestyle diseases, according to health-care professionals who launched a health campaign on Monday to highlight cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the UAE. The reasoning is that an early diagnosis and treatment leads to better prognosis.
The community-based health promotion aims to reach out to 5,000 residents and visitors, and will focus on specific markers for CVD, including hypertension, cholesterol and blood glucose levels, besides weight and body mass index (BMI) and offer advice on nutrition and referrals.
The campaign to be rolled out in Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah and Sharjah seeks to highlight the message of World Heart Day which is observed on September 29 every year to spread awareness about heart disease.
World Heart Day is observed in more than 100 countries in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Heart Federation. In the UAE, shopping malls belonging to the Majid Al Futtaim Properties group have collaborated with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Emirates Cardiac Society and Ministry of Health (MOH).
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Nooshin Bazargani, cardiologist from Dubai Hospital, board member of the World Heart Federation (WHF), and chair of the CVD Prevention Group of Emirates Cardiac Society, said that the management of CVD has a four-fold aim “starting with policy level involving ministries, health authorities, cardiac societies, and pharmaceutical industries; followed by public health screenings to educate and screen; assessment of government budgets towards health programmes; and lastly, the patient benefit of cost-effective intervention”.
She explained that screening programmes help create awareness of CVD, diagnose risk factors, and help with referrals. Additionally, the gathered baseline information on population helps policy-makers in their health-care strategy.
Dr Khalifa Omar Mohammad, cardiologist at Rashid Hospital, told Gulf News that screenings are an effective outreach tool to interact with people in public places who think they are healthy. By way of example, he spoke of a screening campaign at a labour camp. “We discovered that one out of six had at least one risk factor — diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, etc, for CVD. The patients at our hospitals who suffer heart attacks have only one or two risk factors. So residents need to understand that even one risk factors makes them vulnerable.”
The spokesperson for Majid Al Futtaim Properties, Fuad Al Najjar, senior director — Asset Management, told Gulf News, “There needs to be more awareness towards heart disease. Unlike our earlier campaign [two years ago] which was aimed at women and took place in Deira City Centre, this year all six shopping malls in the UAE have joined forces to fight heart disease.”
