Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, will inaugurate Thursday the fourth International Conference on ‘Vitamin D Deficiency and its Clinical Implications’ in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking on the occasion, Shaikh Nahyan said that the number of medical professional participants from the UAE, the Gulf, and across the world, confirms the importance of this issue. “I welcome all of you to Abu Dhabi and trust that you will find the sessions both stimulating and professionally satisfying.”
Quoting Nicolaus Copernicus, a renaissance mathematician and astronomer, Shaikh Nahyan said, “Your work, like our planet, revolves around that great source of vitamin D, the Sun. You proceed in the spirit of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who declared in the year 1543 that, and I quote, “Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, “with both eyes open’.”
“Because Abu Dhabi is among the world’s sunniest cities, we should be ablaze with vitamin D. But our Emirati population, as well as the global population that we host, routinely shades itself from the sun. Our place in the sun has not eliminated those problems associated with vitamin D deficiency, the very problems on which this conference concentrates. Your agenda belies our sunniness. We must, as Copernicus said, face the facts with both eyes open,” he added.
The Minister added, “Nonetheless, we have not eliminated all vitamin D deficiencies. The consequences are dire. Your agenda itself proclaims concerns about multiple sclerosis, diabetes, paediatric rickets, VKH (Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada) disease, cardiovascular disease, trauma, cancer, bone density, pregnancy, reproduction, and asthma. We must face those facts with both eyes open.”
Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, president of the conference and managing director of VPS Healthcare, said, “With this conference, we wanted to bring forth the seriousness of the topic. Vitamin D deficiency is not just restricted to Arab countries, but is a global phenomenon. Exact reasons for this deficiency in sunny regions is not yet fully known but such deliberations are necessary to spread the research being done in this field. I hope that two-days at the conference will address all the questions of the participants here and others who will get the message through the media.”
“The prevalence of hypovitaminosis is significantly high among the population of UAE, Saudi Arabia and many Middle Eastern countries, especially women, despite abundant sunshine. In fact, deficiency of vitamin D is a major health concern around the world, with teenagers from across the world found with lowest levels of vitamin D in our study, including 61,039 patients’ samples from 136 countries in a span of two years,” said Dr Afrozul Haq, principal scientist, R&D Division, VPS Healthcare, and chairman of the conference.
The conference will welcome participation of experts from the US, Europe and Asia who provided cutting-edge information on how to deal with widespread vitamin D deficiency.
— WAM
