ABU DHABI // Women are being diagnosed with breast cancer in their teens and 20s, in one case as young as 17, highlighting a need for greater awareness of the disease at an early age, say health professionals. A leading expert has revealed that there are more cases of breast cancer among younger women in the UAE than in other parts of the world. Along with the 17-year-old, a woman of 19 was diagnosed with a disease more commonly associated with women in their 50s.
Late diagnosis often leaves women with little chance of a cure and doctors are calling for campaigns to alert schoolgirls and young women to the danger. Women, afraid of the stigma still attached to breast cancer in Gulf states, often ignore warning signs and are reluctant to examine themselves. Younger women remain largely ignorant of the need to be aware of the disease from an early age. Dr Rawda al Mutawa, who was involved in the recent Break The Silence campaign, part of the Global Initiative for Breast Cancer Awareness, said: "Throughout the campaign and during the checks we performed on the younger women, many younger people were diagnosed with cancer who had no idea at all, including a 17-year-old."
Dr Mutawa, the president of the Emirate's Business Women Council and chief executive of the council's Abu Dhabi branch, said lack of information was a problem. "The problem with young people is that they consider this to be an illness that afflicts older women only," she said, "so they do not heed the advice and warnings. "During the campaign, we went to secondary schools. Each day, we had 10 or 15 girls going to the hospitals to get mammograms, so they learnt about the importance of these self-examinations."
Between 2003 and 2006, almost as many women were diagnosed with breast cancer as with all the other types of cancer combined, according to the National Cancer Registry. The disease accounts for 22.8 per cent of the total number of diagnosed cases of cancer in the UAE, making it the country's most common cancer. The young age at which women are developing breast cancer is of increasing concern to doctors.
"The breast cancer in the UAE is very special," said one expert, who has been involved in screening women for more than 10 years. "We have a lot of younger cases and most of them are caught only at a late stage." The average age at which breast cancer was diagnosed among Emiratis was between 40 and 45, she said, which was 10 years younger than in Europe. "Of course we get even younger cases, in their 20s and 30s, and we have had patients as young as 17 and 19."
The national screening centre for women and children was officially opened in the capital a week ago. Its major tasks include educating people about the importance of self-examination at an early age, and overcoming taboos. Encouraging women to self-examine, especially younger women, was not an easy task, said Dr Mutawa, but it was a vital one: "In the campaign, we focused specifically on girls who had a family history of breast cancer.
"Many people do not realise the hereditary element of the illness and we needed to make them realise the situation." It is estimated that only 30 per cent of women with breast cancer in the country are diagnosed in the early stages of the disease, when the chances of a cure are higher. Dr Miriam al Otaiba, a senior doctor at the Makkah Specialised Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, said the subject of breast cancer and self-examination was not always raised by doctors, as patients did not always welcome advice on the disease.
"Traditionally speaking, it would be odd for me to just ask the patient to examine her breasts without any complaint or request," she said. "The patient would not think it was normal. "However, we do advise and strongly encourage all patients to take certain precautions." @Email:munderwood@thenational.ae @Email:amcmeans@thenational.ae With additional reporting by Hessa al Romaithi and Fatima al Shamsi
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
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Vara will cater to three categories of companies in Dubai (except the DIFC):
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Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
