The 19th day of Ramadan also marks the anniversary of the death of Sheikh Zayed during the holy month of 2004.
This year, 16 years on and given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the country is reminded of his commitment to health care for his people and those of the rest of the world.
Growing up in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed would have been well aware of the terrible toll disease and ill health could take on an unprotected population.
Doctors and trained health workers were all but unknown even as late as the 1960s. Serious eye diseases were common, as was infant mortality, while the risk of women dying in childbirth has been estimated to be as high as one in three.
As Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region, it was Sheikh Zayed’s decision in 1960 to invite Christian doctors to set up the Emirate’s first health centre in Al Ain.
In the 50 years since, medics at what was first the Oasis Hospital and renamed the Kanad Hospital last December, have saved many thousands of lives and ensured the good health of many more.
The prosperity and fortunes of the UAE allowed the country to develop a sophisticated healthcare system from the 1970s, but Sheikh Zayed also turned his attention to those in need in other countries.
A meeting with former US President Jimmy Carter in 1990 led to Sheikh Zayed making a personal donation of more than $5.5 million (Dh20m) to the Carter Centre and its battle against Guinea worm disease.
In the three decades since, it has been estimated that around 80m cases of this crippling and debilitating parasitic disease have been prevented in rural Africa.
Examples of Sheikh Zayed’s generosity and that of the Ruling Family in his name, can be found all over the world.
The Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, was created with a donation by the UAE in 1986 and now has more than 1,000 beds.
It has become part of a medical campus that includes the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Medical and Dental College.
A year before his death, the Sheikh Zayed Medical Centre was established in the Punjab in his name.
In 1996, Sheikh Zayed founded what is now the Sultan Zayed foundation, whose charitable work has seen millions of dirhams given to support international health care.
They included the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah in the West Bank while other medical facilities named in his honour include El Sheikh Zayed Specialised Hospital in Giza, part of Egypt’s Sheikh Zayed City, and the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, which opened with facilities for 1,000 patients a day, even as the country struggled to recover from the US invasion and the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Beyond the region is the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC which opened in 2011.
In London, the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children, part of the world famous Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, welcomed its first patients last year.
The research centre was made possible by a Dh60 million donation from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, chairwoman of the General Women’s Union and the wife of the late President.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, also continues his father’s vision. The Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces - who was born in the Oasis Hospital his father founded - has strongly supported the global fight against preventable diseases like polio and malaria, working with the Gates Foundation.
Last month, Sheikh Mohamed and Bill Gates discussed the battle against Covid-19. This Ramadan, the words of Sheikh Zayed also offer some guidance.
“Life is inconsistent and ever changing," he once said. “So are health and weather. We must, therefore, be prepared for the unexpected changes coming our way."
Remembering Sheikh Zayed
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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.”
WISH
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