Sheikh Nahyan approves funding for ovarian cancer research


Anam Rizvi
  • English
  • Arabic

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, president of the UAE Genetic Diseases Association, on Thursday approved a budget to study the causes of ovarian cancer.

And Sheikh Nahyan, also Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, approved the second phase of a research project into breast cancer. He also ordered a genetic survey into favism, a hereditary disease that affects red blood cells.

Sheikh Nahyan gave the approvals as he received a delegation from the association and the executive team of the Fifth National Conference on Genetic Diseases.

Last month’s summit brought together more than 900 genetic scientists, experts, researchers, academics, physicians and representatives of government healthcare providers.

He said the quality of presentations and large number of participants at the event was a “global achievement by the UAE”, the state news agency Wam reported.

Health experts have welcomed the funding boost for ovarian cancer research.

Dr Saad Ghazal-Aswad, senior gynaecological oncologist at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, believes the research fund should be spent looking into the cause of the disease.

“In cases of breast as well as cervical cancer, early detection is possible, but ovarian cancer is usually detected at an advanced stage. This is why we call it a killer disease,” he said.

“We need to conduct research into whether there are some particular factors that cause it.”

Dr Ghazal-Aswad has worked in the UAE for the past 15 years and has received awards for his contribution to medical education.

He said nearly 80 per cent of his patients came to him when they had stage three or four ovarian cancer.

“The survival rate of a patient who has stage four of the disease is around 20 per cent and of those with stage three it is 40 per cent. These are sad statistics.

“If we know what is causing the disease, we can discover it sooner and perform surgery earlier.

“For example, some families have a particular gene which makes them vulnerable to ovarian cancer. In these cases, we can perform surgeries or take preventive measures.”

Dr Ghazal-Aswad has conducted research on chemotherapy but he believes the project can open new doors into understanding the disease and ultimately in realising how it can be prevented or detected at an early stage.

Presently, surgery followed by the removal of the tumour and chemotherapy is the treatment provided to patients of ovarian cancer.

Targeted chemotherapy can be administered to patients once the cause and genesis of the problem is discovered.

“By identifying the factors that cause the problem we will be able to provide targeted treatment. Now, we also have chemo-boards in which different doctors work together to treat a patient,” said Dr Ghazal-Aswad.

Most ovarian cancers develop in women over 60 years of age. Symptoms include indigestion, nausea, weight loss, vaginal bleeding and loss of appetite.

At the 2012 Globocan project, which examined cancer rates in 184 countries, ovarian cancer was found to be the fourth most common among women in the UAE.

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UAE's role in anti-extremism recognised

General John Allen, President of the Brookings Institution research group, commended the role the UAE has played in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

He told a Globsec debate of the UAE’s "hugely outsized" role in the fight against Isis.

"It’s trite these days to say that any country punches above its weight, but in every possible way the Emirates did, both militarily, and very importantly, the UAE was extraordinarily helpful on getting to the issue of violent extremism," he said.

He also noted the impact that Hedayah, among others in the UAE, has played in addressing violent extremism.

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

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