Health

Doctors warn on spread of infectious diseases in UAE

With so many expatriate workers, doctors must step up efforts to control infectious diseases such as influenza, chicken pox and TB.

Jennifer Bell

03 December, 2013

DUBAI // There is an urgent need for the effective surveillance and control of emerging infectious diseases in the UAE, doctors say.

About 2 million people move to work in GCC countries every year, and a quarter of these suffer from health issues, specifically infectious diseases, said Dr Wasif Muhammad Alam, director of public health and safety at the Dubai Health Authority.

“The spread of communicable disease among expatriate workers can be fatal and the consequences are wide ranging,” said Dr Alam.

He will be discussing the prevalence of infectious diseases in the UAE and GCC at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress in Dubai next month.

The most prevalent infectious diseases among expatriate workers include influenza, chicken pox, hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and food-borne disease, Dr Alam said.

“Despite the extensive screening efforts to tackle the problem of infectious disease transmission among expatriate employees, a key factor remains health awareness and health promotion, which plays a vital role in educating employers and employees about the risks of contracting and spreading these diseases,” he said.

Dr Rasha Salama, a senior specialist in public health at the authority who will also be addressing the conference, said while standards of health care are high in the UAE, communicable diseases were still a concern.

“The increase in prevalence of many infectious diseases, together with the ongoing evolution of viral and microbial variants and selection for drug resistance, suggests that infections will continue to emerge, and probably increase,” Dr Salama said.

“This emphasises the urgent need for effective surveillance and control in the region. Early warning of emerging and re-emerging infections depends on our ability to identify unusual patterns and occurrences as early as possible.

“Information exchange and collaboration with GCC countries is therefore essential.”

jbell@thenational.ae

The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe

Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads

Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike

They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users

Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance

They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians

Company profile

Company: Zywa
Started: 2021
Founders: Nuha Hashem and Alok Kumar
Based: UAE
Industry: FinTech
Funding size: $3m
Company valuation: $30m

The biog

Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.

It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.

They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.

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.”