Official visits for heads of state entail meetings with the highest level leaders of the host country and high-level conversations across the board, and this week’s talks between President Sheikh Mohamed and senior US political and business leaders were no exception. As well as discussions with US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other senior administration figures, Sheikh Mohamed on Tuesday met the chief executives of BlackRock, Microsoft and Nvidia to discuss opportunities in advanced technology and artificial intelligence.
But these meetings were preceded by an altogether different encounter on Sunday when Sheikh Mohamed visited the Children's National Hospital in Washington, an institution that has a special relationship with the UAE – a $150 million gift from the Emirates helped set up the hospital’s Sheikh Zayed Institute for Paediatric Surgical Innovation in 2010; another $30 million from the UAE went to establishing its Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, which was inaugurated in 2022.
Amid a tour of the hospital, where Sheikh Mohamed was shown some of the cutting-edge technology used to treat its young patients – such as a miniature pacemaker for infants – the President met patients and their families. Children have a particular talent for encouraging warmth and informality, even among heads of government and world leaders. As Sheikh Mohamed spent time with these young people, it was apparent that this was an emotional moment.
The visit had echoes of Sheikh Mohamed’s 2021 trip to London where he toured the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children. This was established in 2019 with financial help from the UAE; by the time of Sheikh Mohamed’s visit. it had already treated more than 22,000 children in its Falcon Outpatients facility.
Sadly, tragic events unfolding in today’s Middle East mean that the UAE’s forceful and effective commitment to children’s health and welfare is needed more than ever. Last month, 11-month-old Abdul Rahman Abu Al Jidyan became the first confirmed case of type 2 polio in Gaza in 25 years. As the poliovirus re-emerged after an almost year-long Israeli military assault that destroyed much of the enclave, the UAE worked with the World Health Organisation, Unicef and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to vaccinate more than 187,000 children. The campaign was supported by a $5 million pledge directed by Sheikh Mohamed; this vital contribution was the first from any leader or country for the polio campaign in Gaza.
The continuing catastrophe in Gaza means more hard work will be required in the future. A new study published by academics working in partnership with UNRWA estimates that even if the war ended immediately, Palestinian children in the strip would lose two years of education. Although one shudders to contemplate this conflict lasting until 2026, the report’s findings suggest this lost education could increase to five years if the fighting continues until then. This is before we consider the effects of trauma, famine and displacement on Palestinian children.
The UAE’s long track record of supporting children’s health shows that it is a strategic and long-term commitment. The country’s resources and expertise are such that it can have a meaningful effect on children’s lives – whether it be those suffering from rare illnesses or those in conflict zones who have been let down by a collective failure to govern this world peacefully. Our hope should be that more countries and institutions take up the challenge with such determination.
