Healthcare | Saturday 21 February, 2015 1:27 am |

The 5th Emirates Diabetes & Endocrine Congress (EDEC) was opened today at the Dubai World Trade Centre under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance, and President of Dubai Health Authority. The event is expected to witness the participation of up to 3,000 health care professionals consisting of doctors, nurses, and educators.

Dr. Abdulrazzaq Ali Al Madani, Diabetes and Endocrine Consultant and President of the Emirates Diabetes Society, noted that the three-day Congress will discuss recent developments concerning diabetes and the latest specialized medications used to adjust blood sugar levels alongside other hormonal drugs that have been recently introduced to the international market. The Congress will additionally address how to avoid disease-related complications in conjunction with surgeries, such as gastric sleeve surgeries, that enable patients to control blood sugar levels and to reduce their weight.

The Congress, organized by the Emirates Diabetes Society has partnered with The Endocrine Society of America who is providing some world renowned speakers and content at the congress. The congress has 26 international faculty and over 40 topics ranging from Type1, Type 2, endocrinology, diabetic care and the latest treat treatment protocols.

The Congress will also introduce the most advanced medical treatment protocols and equipment’s used to monitor and control diabetes and endocrine related diseases.

Dr. Abdulrazzaq Ali Al Madani said: “According to the International Diabetes Foundation, at the beginning of 2014, the UAE was in the 15th position in regards to the prevalence of diabetes, but by the end of the same year, the UAE’s rates dropped to the 16th position. Only a few years ago, the UAE was in the 2nd position. We as a society are aligned to the UAE National Vision 2021 of reducing the prevalence of Diabetes from 19% to 16% and Reduce Childhood Obesity from 14% to 12% in 2021.”

A latest study, UAE National Diabetes and Lifestyle Survey (2012-2015), revealed that the prevalence of total diabetes in UAE reached over 19% whereas the impaired diabetes has reached 15.3%. Highlighting the need of a change in lifestyle, the study interestingly observed that a high 10.6% of Asians and 11.7% of Arabs were found diabetic; as compared to a 3.6% of the Africans and Westerners. A new factor also revealed in the study that directly correlates to the prevalence of diabetes was snoring; the rest consisting of age, BMI, Family History and Triglycerides.

The Emirates Diabetes Society aims to educate the community about diabetes and its complications; and to better enable other healthcare professionals to assist physicians in providing patient counseling and guidance about diabetes by developing guidelines for the Management of Diabetes with a multidisciplinary approach.

“It is our wish to have the UAE move out of the list of the top 20 countries regarding the occurrence of diabetes, and we hope to do so by increasing the levels of awareness over the next two to three years. Health authorities and civil institutions will organize awareness campaigns and additional plans include the important decision of the Ministry of Education to prohibit the sale of fast food or other foods with high levels of sugars and carbohydrates in schools.” He additionally highlighted the importance of opening more specialized clinics and of operating bus clinics that are capable of conducting tests for both citizens and residents that live in remote areas.