SHARJAH // Medical researchers at the University of Sharjah are studying the health of infants fed on breast milk from birth up to two years.
About 200 breastfed babies are being tracked as part of the study funded by the Al Jalila Foundation for Women and Children that aims to form the basis of policy-making on maternal and infant nutrition.
The mothers and babies, Emiratis and Arabs living in the UAE, give blood samples while data on weight and mother’s diet are collected. Cognitive tests are also carried out on the children.
The biggest challenge of such research is enlisting women for the survey.
About 180 women from the original 250 are still active in the study.
“The first 1,000 days of a baby’s life are considered critical in a child’s future health,” said Dr Hadia Radwan, lead researcher.
“This study will help health authorities to devise policy and strategic planning, even raise awareness of breast feeding.”
Breastfeeding is believed to be the best form of nourishment for babies in the first six months and can help to prevent future conditions such as chronic illnesses including diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, according to the World Health Organisation.
Prof Reyad Shaker Obaid, chairman of the department of clinical nutrition and dietetics at the university’s college of health sciences, said the research would give invaluable insight into child health and nutrition.
“There is very little research here on maternal and child health and nutrition compared with the West,” said Prof Obaid. “The UAE wants to encourage women to go to work and that affects feeding babies, working behaviour, and so these kinds of studies are essential to go alongside societal changes.”
Dr Radwan said most mothers breastfeed after giving birth but soon switch to formula. “Most mothers start, but as you go along the numbers decrease, up to six months when the numbers are more like 15 per cent.”
Lecturer Mona Zein has been leading the data collection exercise for the project.
“Chronic disease is on the rise here so we need to look at early years development,” she said. “Most of the women are from Sharjah and here there is a lot of awareness as to the benefits of breastfeeding, but it’s another thing to practise it for six months and beyond. ”
Dr Radwan hopes to follow the babies to school age and beyond. “We hope to form recommendations as to what are the best practices for child and maternal nutrition and health,” she said.
“We expect that those babies who were breastfed will be healthier.
“We are seeing the initial benefits but we need to see in the longer term. We anticipate those who were breastfed will be better equipped to fight off illness and disease.”
mswan@thenational.ae
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Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
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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.”
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Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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