2,000 DM employees to be screened during Your Health Matters campaign

Eng. Salah Amiri, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for General Support Services on Monday inaugurated a two day health screening program that will examine approximately 2,000 employees and visitors at the Municipality.

This year's screening program was set up to commemorate Dubai Municipality's involvement in the "Your Health Matters" campaign, launched by Sanofi-aventis pharmaceuticals, for the second consecutive year.

Employees were tested for high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose body mass index (BMI) and increased waist circumference. They were also educated on the relationship between cardio-metabolic risk factors and cardio-vascular diseases and/or type II diabetes.

"We are very glad to be part of this national campaign for the second year running and we hope to keep raising awareness of health issues among our employees," Amiri said.

"Dubai Municipality, one of the main government entities and trendsetter for the development and growth of the country, will set a health example and regime for the public to follow," he said.

"Your Health Matters" was launched in April 2007 by Sanofi-aventis pharmaceuticals in association with the World Health Organization, the Gulf Heart Association and the Emirates Cardiac Society. It offers free medical check-ups to the public aimed at raising awareness and educating residents in the Gulf about the dangers of increased waist circumference and associated cardio metabolic risk factors and their link to cardiovascular disease.

"With the high prevalence rates of obesity and diabetes in the UAE, this type of frontline public health campaign is a step in the right direction. Instead of waiting for people to come into clinics and hospitals at late stages, we should do more to promote prevention and early diagnosis of these diseases," said Amiri.

Phase I, II and III of the "Your Health Matters" campaign have been finalized from 2007 to 2009. Results of the campaign were extremely beneficial to provide a snapshot of a wide cross-section of the UAE population. Overall, individuals from more than 46 nationalities participated in the free check-ups, including respondents from the UAE, the United Kingdom, India, Egypt, Australia and Germany.