ABU DHABI // A new method of screening babies for heart disease is helping save lives.
Pulse oximetry uses a light probe to measure oxygen levels in the heart's red blood cells during the first 24 hours of a baby's life.
The Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (Haad) introduced it at Al Ain's Tawam Hospital in January last year as part of a new screening programme for newborns, and one per cent of the 4,473 babies screened in 2011 were found to have congenital heart disease (CHD).
A further 0.3-0.5 per cent were found to have critical congenital heart disease (CCHD), which requires urgent treatment and is the main target of the programme.
The children were the first in the country to undergo pulse oximetry.
Follow-up examinations confirmed 10 cases of CCHD, while three false positives were also discovered.
All but two of the babies who tested positive survived.
Dr Mohamed Hamdan, the head of paediatric cardiology at Tawam Hospital, said pulse oximetry provides a more accurate reading of oxygen levels, reducing the number of misdiagnosed cases of CCHD.
"The equipment has become much more sensitive, so the chances of a false positive or false negative result are much less."
In comparison, between 2008 and 2010, Tawam Hospital detected potentially fatal heart problems in three to five babies a year, Dr Hamdan said.
"Death would have been expected to be between 15 and 30 per cent before cardiac surgery, and additional 10 to 20 per cent after surgery. The total survival rate would have been 60 to 70 per cent."
That survival rate does not factor in the babies who died after CCHD was not diagnosed at birth.
In most cases, early detection is vital. Late diagnoses can result in death or severe neurological impairment.
With pulse oximetry able to diagnose cases at a higher rate than other methods, such as foetal echocardiography, which can miss up to half of cases, the latest results from Tawam indicate the direction the country's other birthing hospitals might soon follow.
Al Rahba Hospital in the north of Abu Dhabi emirate adopted pulse oximetry in February, but no incidents of CCHD have yet been detected.
Corniche Hospital in the capital has also adopted pulse oximetry.
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Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
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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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