Healthcare | Tuesday 23 June, 2015 2:55 am |

Prevention is key – more than 5,600 women participated in Majid Al Futtaim’s ‘Feel the Beat’ regional health awareness campaign. When visiting participating malls and getting tested, women learned how they have control over several risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) such as: obesity, inactivity, smoking habits and poor dietary choices.

Cardiovascular diseases have emerged as the leading cause of death in most countries in the Middle East, causing 45% of early deaths in the Gulf region, and women are not spared despite the common belief that this concerns more men.

All shopping malls have allocated areas to host medical professionals who administer complimentary testing and conduct checkups for women, aiming to raise awareness on cardiovascular health. At each designated location, visitors could check their blood pressure, blood sugar and Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine if they were at risk for heart diseases and if they should follow-up with more extensive examination.

Majid Al Futtaim, which has a vision to create great moments, for everyone, everyday, saw ‘Feel the Beat’ initiative offering preventative heart health testing for women across 14 shopping malls in five countries. Participating malls were: Mall of the Emirates; City Centre Mirdif; City Centre Deira; City Centre Ajman; City Centre Fujairah; My City Centre, Nasseriya and City Centre Sharjah. Shoppers also participated in screening locations at City Centre Bahrain; City Centre Muscat and City Centre Qurum in Oman, City Centre Alexandria and City Centre Maadi in Egypt, and City Centre Beirut in Lebanon.