Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, President of the Al Jazira Club and Vice President of the Honorary Board, the first national preventive and orientation campaign of Hepatitis has been launched today and organized by a leading civilian Foundation “the Al Jazira Sports and Health Foundation” in a press conference held at the occasion in the Emirates Palace. The event was attended by a number of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and a list of medical institutions in the United Arab Emirates.
Commenting at this event, H.H. Sheikh Mansour Said “Today we are celebrating the launch of the first national Hepatitis awareness campaign with the support of one of our civilian leading Foundations “the Al Jazira Sports and Health Foundation” and in cooperation with the Regional Office of the World Health Organization in the Middle East. There is no doubt that such an initiative is a significant step not only to fight Hepatitis, but to spread awareness about the disease particularly after the continued increase of it worldwide.
H.H added that “This campaign is aimed at increasing the public’s health
awareness and promote healthy behaviours. In addition, it is mainly focused on informing people about Hepatitis, and how to control by protecting people from its risks and side effects.
H. H. confirmed that the idea of this campaign has been adopted in light of the wise outlook of H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan – President of the State, as well as continued follow up and efforts of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Chairman of the Executive Council, to validate the State’s Social Planning as a strategic goal through which we can achieve more social and healthy objectives as part of the State's policy to build a healthy and fit society by all possible means.
On his part, H.E. Mohammed Thani AL-Romaithi – the Chairman of the Al-Jazira Club said “ I am absolutely confident that the permanent orientation committee of Hepatitis C will do its best efforts to make this campaign a success and will try to increase people's awareness of the importance and risks of this disease through a serious and meaningful media campaign besides various orientation workshops, training programs and other worthy initiatives to keep full control over this disease in coordination with all other concerned authorities in the State and abroad.
Hepatitis is one of the most current and risky diseases that should be dealt with seriously by extending all necessary efforts to initially avoid it and get it treated effectively. It is worth mentioning that scientific studies and researches confirmed that more than 350 million people in Asia only are suffering from Hepatitis B, which is one third of the total number of Hepatitis patients worldwide. In addition, and according to the World Health Organization, the average of hepatitis cases in the gulf ranges between 2-5% of the total population.
Commenting at this event, Dr. Hamad Abdullah Al Ghaferi, the Director of the Al-Jazira Sports and Health Foundation stated that “It has become clearly evident for all that the risks of Hepatitis depend firstly on the subtype, way acquired, and duration before becoming active in the body. As for the Hepatitis B group, it can infect 100 times more than the AIDS Virus.
We, therefore, had technical and strategic planning for this campaign in a way that can be set as an example for others to adopt it because it was based on scientific and systematic fundamentals. Hence, social needs have been evaluated so as to set up the main cores for this campaign. Furthermore, core discussions have been held for the targeted groups in this project. Workshops and strategic planning for healthy orientation programs relating to Hepatitis infections have been given to the technical team and will be carried out in Abu Dhabi. This campaign will be addressed to all social categories mainly male and female students by all scientific, technical and media means.
It is worth mentioning that H. H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed has in February 2006 established the National Orientation Committee for Hepatitis Awareness in partnership with the Al Jazira Sports and Health Foundation, a non-profit entity head quartered in Abu Dhabi based on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Al Jazira Club and the Center of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT). The Foundation is operating from its Head Office in Abu Dhabi. Through its first campaign, the Foundation is aiming at informing people about the Hepatitis disease and how to control it from spreading in the region through a comprehensive national campaign that is supervised by the National Committee, which will give all necessary training courses and assistance so as to take all precautions of this disease.
The Foundation, through its general plan aims at improving the public's level of understanding about several serious health issues. For the purpose of marketing a healthy lifestyle, the Al Jazira Sports and Health Foundation is going to encourage people to practice sports exercises and pay more attention to a healthy lifestyle through full awareness and various orientation campaigns about the disease that is aimed at catching peoples' attention.
It was disclosed that Kenzi Marketing Solution House based in Abu Dhabi was appointed as the official Media and PR partner of the Al Jazira Sports and Health Foundation for its first Hepatitis Awareness Campaign in Abu Dhabi and other cities in the Emirate.
