Cardiovascular disease is the principal cause of death in the UAE, constituting 28 percent of total deaths; other major causes are accidents and injuries, malignancies, and congenital anomalies.
Cardiovascular disease is the principal cause of death in the UAE, constituting 28 percent of total deaths; other major causes are accidents and injuries, malignancies, and congenital anomalies.
In 2009, 119 genetic disorders were identified among Emiratis and 241 among Arab citizens and expatriates combined in the UAE. This is the second-highest incidence of genetic disorders in the Arab world (after Oman). [1] Autosomal recessive disorders are common in the UAE. Hemoglobinopathies are one of the most common disorders among the UAE nationals. Beta-thalassemia constitutes a major public health problem in the UAE. During 1989-2004, more than 850 patients have been registered at the Dubai Genetics and Thalassemia Center. Surveys have shown that the UAE exhibits one of the highest carrier frequencies of β-thalassemia in the Persian Gulf region which is 8.5%. [2] Pre-marital medical examinations in the UAE, excluding the HAAD, include blood group tests, sickle cell anaemia, hepatitis B and C, German measles, haemoglobin variance, HIV/AIDS, thalassaemia, and syphilis. [3]
The Health Authority – Abu Dhabi introduced premarital screening and counselling in 2011. 56,226 men and women preparing for marriage were tested for genetic and infectious disorders were tested between 2011 and the end of 2014. in 2014 16,247 people were tested, 342 were Beta-thalassaemia carriers, 8 had sickle-cell anaemia, 205 were sickle-cell anaemia carriers, 36 had syphilis and 140 had hepatitis B. [4]
In 1985 the UAE established a national program to prevent transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and to control its entry into the country. According to World Health Organization estimates, in 2002−3 fewer than 1,000 people in the UAE were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS.
Obesity is a growing health concern with health officials stating that obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United Arab Emirates. According to Forbes, United Arab Emirates ranks 18 on a 2007 list of fattest countries with a percentage of 68.3% of its citizens with an unhealthy weight. [5]
One out of every four citizens of the United Arab Emirates has diabetes, at a rate of roughly 20% for residents, 25% for Emirati nationals. [6] UAE Ministerial Council declared 2009 "Anti-diabetes Year" on January 11, 2009.
A number of surveys have been conducted contributing in establishing comprehensive health promotion program and chalking out prevention and curative strategies. On 27 June 2010, The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) collaboratively completed first most comprehensive Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS). The survey covering 5,000 households provided a unique and unprecedented assessment of issues concerning health. Among 5,000 households, there were 2500 UAE National Households, 25oo Expatriate and 700 individuals from labor camps with the purpose of finding out the detailed information on issues such as healthcare utilization, health status, health spending and treatment abroad. According to the Head of Research and Performance Management in DHA’s Health Policy Strategy sector Dr. Eldaw Abdalla Suliman, the collected data will be analyzed over 18 months that will help in identifying and addressing Dubai’s health care issues. The Primary Healthcare Services Sector (PHCSS) of Dubai Health Authority started a health and Socio-economic survey intended to cover 3,000 families in beginning to understand health issues and risk factors affecting population of Dubai. A survey unveiled that 40% of school children in UAE are overweight and 15% are obese. The reasons attributed to these issues were growing trend among children to consume too much fast food and less physical activities. 30 minutes of exercise was suggested and led to initiating physical activities programs in schools of Dubai. A survey by DHA in 2012 covered about 5,000 residents, Emiratis and Expatriates revealed that education and chronic disease are the major factors in enhancing the risk of developing the mental and physical disabilities. Women reported more severe disability problems. According to the survey, there is a direct link between chronic disease and functional disabilities. The various factors taken into account were age, gender, nationality, income and other parameters.
A 2014 survey on 1,000 residents shows that unfit in UAE think they are healthy and reality is totally different. More than half the respondents are either overweight or obese and barely exercise. Inadequate sleeping habits, consumption of tobacco and smoking, carbonated beverages, increasing intake of junk food and lack of exercise is maximizing diabetes and hypertension. DHA has already warned people with heart diseases by considering hypertension a silent killer. A recent UAE mall study reveals that two thirds of women don’t exercise and one third are obese. The study on nearly 5,000 women consisted of questionnaire and tests identified the main indicators of health issues including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and cholesterol and body mass index. The collected data can be implemented by medical community in the Middle East for research efforts.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East. Located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula, it shares land borders with Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the southwest; as well as maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates. As of 2024, the UAE has an estimated population of about 10 million. Emirati citizens are estimated to form 11.6% of the population, with the remaining residents forming up to 88.4% of the UAE population composed of expatriates, the majority of whom are of South Asian descent. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language. Abu Dhabi is the country's capital, while Dubai, the most populous city, is an international hub.
Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, identified SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.
In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus that contains the glycoproteins hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), antigens whose subtypes are used to classify the strains of the virus as H1N1, H1N2 etc. Hemagglutinin causes red blood cells to clump together and binds the virus to the infected cell. Neuraminidase is a type of glycoside hydrolase enzyme which helps to move the virus particles through the infected cell and assist in budding from the host cells.
Alpha-thalassemia is a form of thalassemia involving the genes HBA1 and HBA2. Thalassemias are a group of inherited blood conditions which result in the impaired production of hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen in the blood. Normal hemoglobin consists of two alpha chains and two beta chains; in alpha-thalassemia, there is a quantitative decrease in the amount of alpha chains, resulting in fewer normal hemoglobin molecules. Furthermore, alpha-thalassemia leads to the production of unstable beta globin molecules which cause increased red blood cell destruction. The degree of impairment is based on which clinical phenotype is present.
Beta thalassemias are a group of inherited blood disorders. They are forms of thalassemia caused by reduced or absent synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin that result in variable outcomes ranging from severe anemia to clinically asymptomatic individuals. Global annual incidence is estimated at one in 100,000. Beta thalassemias occur due to malfunctions in the hemoglobin subunit beta or HBB. The severity of the disease depends on the nature of the mutation.
The Emiratis are the citizen population of the United Arab Emirates. Within the UAE itself, their number is approximately 1.15 million.
The healthcare system in Turkey has improved in terms of health status especially after implementing the Health Transformation Program (HP) in 2003. "Health for All" was the slogan for this transformation, and HP aimed to provide and finance health care efficiently, effectively, and equitably. By covering most of the population, the General Health Insurance Scheme is financed by employers, employees, and government contributions through the Social Security Institution. Even though HP aimed to be equitable, after 18 years of implementation, there are still disparities between the regions in Turkey. These discrepancies can be seen in terms of infant mortality between rural and urban areas and different parts of the country, although these have been declining over the years. While the under-5 mortality rate in Western Marmara is 7.9, the under-5 mortality rate in Southeastern Asia is two times higher than Western Marmara, with the rate of 16.3 in 2021.
Hemoglobin E (HbE) is an abnormal hemoglobin with a single point mutation in the β chain. At position 26 there is a change in the amino acid, from glutamic acid to lysine (E26K). Hemoglobin E is very common among people of Southeast Asian, Northeast Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi descent.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus. The first identified human case was in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. The virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 that resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses which further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term "swine flu".
This article covers the chronology of the 2009 novel influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Flag icons denote the first announcements of confirmed cases by the respective nation-states, their first deaths, and relevant sessions and announcements of the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Union , and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The pandemic H1N1/09 virus is a swine origin influenza A virus subtype H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic. This strain is often called swine flu by the public media due to the prevailing belief that it originated in pigs. The virus is believed to have originated around September 2008 in central Mexico.
The 2009 swine flu outbreak in Malaysia was part of a larger flu pandemic involving a new type of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 virus. As of 11 August 2009, the country had over 2,253 cases, beginning with imported cases from affected countries, including the United States and Australia from 15 May 2009 onwards, and the first identified local transmission on 17 June 2009. From 12 August 2009, the Malaysian Health Ministry said that it had discontinued officially updating the total number of H1N1 cases within Malaysia in line with guidelines issued by the World Health Organization. As of 21 August 2009 the unofficial number of cases reported in the media is 5,876 so far. The first death related to the A(H1N1) virus was reported on 23 July 2009 and so far there have been 78 deaths reported. On 6 July 2009 Malaysia announced that it was shifting from containment to mitigation to tackle the spread of the virus. The federal government had declared a national health emergency in Malaysia because of the A(H1N1) outbreak and was considering imposing a health curfew similar to the week-long shutdown of non-essential services and industries in Mexico.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic was a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1, first identified in April 2009, termed Pandemic H1N1/09 virus by the World Health Organization (WHO) and colloquially called swine flu. The outbreak was first observed in Mexico, and quickly spread globally. On 11 June 2009, WHO declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. The overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms", but some persons are in higher risk groups, such as those with asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or who are pregnant or have a weakened immune system. In the rare severe cases, around 3–5 days after symptoms manifest, the person's condition declines quickly, often to the point respiratory failure.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic was a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1, first identified in April 2009, termed Pandemic H1N1/09 virus by the World Health Organization (WHO) and colloquially called swine flu. The outbreak was first observed in Mexico, and quickly spread globally. On the 11th of June 2009, the WHO declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. The overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms, but some persons are at higher risk of suffering more serious effects; such as those with asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or those who are pregnant or have a weakened immune system. In the rare severe cases, around 3–5 days after symptoms manifest, the sufferer's condition declines quickly, often to the point respiratory failure. Although Ukraine was not (very) affected at first there was on outbreak of the virus in Western Ukraine in early November 2009 that led to the closing of public buildings and cancellation of meetings for three weeks.
Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates include expatriates from Pakistan who have settled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a population of over 1.5 million, Pakistanis are the second largest national group in the UAE after Indians, constituting 12.5% of the country's total population. They are the third largest overseas Pakistani community, behind the Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The population is diverse and consists of people from all over Pakistan, including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. The majority of Pakistanis are Muslim, with significant minorities of Christians, Hindus and other religions. The majority are found in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively, while a significant population is spread out in Sharjah and the remaining Northern Emirates. Dubai alone accounts for a Pakistani population of 400,000.
Hemoglobin Lepore syndrome is typically an asymptomatic hemoglobinopathy, which is caused by an autosomal recessive genetic mutation. The Hb Lepore variant, consisting of two normal alpha globin chains (HBA) and two delta-beta globin fusion chains which occurs due to a "crossover" between the delta (HBD) and beta globin (HBB) gene loci during meiosis and was first identified in the Lepore family, an Italian-American family, in 1958. There are three varieties of Hb Lepore, Washington, Baltimore and Hollandia. All three varieties show similar electrophoretic and chromatographic properties and hematological findings bear close resemblance to those of the beta-thalassemia trait; a blood disorder that reduces the production of the iron-containing protein hemoglobin which carries oxygen to cells and which may cause anemia.
Genetic studies on Arabs refers to the analyses of the genetics of ethnic Arab people in the Middle East and North Africa and parts of Sub-Sahara Africa where Black Arabs claim descent. Arabs are genetically diverse as a result of their intermarriage and mixing with indigenous people of the pre-Islamic Middle East and North Africa following the Arab and Islamic expansion. Genetic ancestry components related to the Arabian Peninsula display an increasing frequency pattern from west to east over North Africa. A similar frequency pattern exist across northeastern Africa with decreasing genetic affinities to groups of the Arabian Peninsula along the Nile river valley across Sudan and the more they go south. This genetic cline of admixture is dated to the time of Arab expansion and immigration to North Africa (Maghreb) and northeast Africa.
Habiba Sayeed Alsafar is an Emirati geneticist, biomedical engineer and academic. She is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology at Khalifa University and is the Dean of College of Medicine and Health Sciences and Director of the Khalifa University Biotechnology Center.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in the United Arab Emirates was announced on 29 January 2020. It was the first country in the Middle East to report a confirmed case.
Maryam Mohamed Fatma Matar is an Emirati geneticist, medical researcher, and radio host, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Matar is the first woman to serve as director-general in the government of Dubai and is the founder and chairperson of the UAE Genetic Diseases Association.
