Dubai Women’s College and UAE Genetic Diseases Association announce the launch of new Folic Acid National Awareness Campaign

Under the patronage and in the presence of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology and Chairman of the UAE Genetic Diseases Association, the Folic Acid Awareness Campaign kicked off today at Dubai Women’s College (DWC) in collaboration with the Dubai-based UAE Genetic Diseases Association.

The campaign, sponsored by the UAE Genetic Diseases Association in collaboration with Dubai Women’s College, aims at decreasing the risks of serious birth defects in unborn baby in the UAE, as well limiting the spread and effects of the genetic blood disorders dominating the country, through the organisation of enlightenment and preventive programmes and undergoing surveys based on research and successful experiments, in addition to educational exchange through good human, technological and rationalized financial resources.

In her speech, Dr. Mariam Matar, Founder and Chair of the board of the UAE Genetic Diseases Association in Dubai, announced the kick-off of the “Manal” Campaign for the Folic Acid Awareness Campaign, saying: “Today and in the occasion of marking the National Day celebrations, we are offering our love to the nation through a sound community and healthy children.”

She pointed out that the campaign targets the women who are about to get married, in addition to the women about to get pregnant. The aim is to encourage them to have folic acid two months before pregnancy and along the first three months of pregnancy, for the main sake of preventing any possible disfigure that might infect the nervous pipe known as decreasing the risks of serious birth defects in unborn baby.  

On her part, Dr. Hanan Haireb, Supervisor of Media and Applied Communications department at DWC, said that the enlightenment campaign that aimed at underlining the importance of folic acid was an excellent opportunity for the Media students to take part through designing the logo and the promotion materials, in addition to preparing a promotion video that supports the enlightenment content and message delivered by the campaign. This happened through merging the campaign with the study subjects and projects under the supervision of specialized teachers. Participation in the campaign also increased the student’s health awareness, sense of national belonging and interaction with the society.

Furthermore, Dr. Mariam Matar reviewed the most important achievements accomplished by the Association within the past years, especially the “Our Emirates is devoid of Thalassemia” campaign, which resulted in issuing a law for the pre-marriage obligatory medical check-up, which helps to a great extent in limiting the future spread of any disease.

Dr. Matar pointed out to the importance of the voluntary work in reaching the targets of the Association. Since the “Emirates free Of Thalassemia” campaign was kicked off in 2004, the Association had 60 volunteers. She added: “That number increased to 11,000 volunteers this year, in addition to that, those volunteers signed messages in which they expressed their desire to carry out any researches that would benefit the society in the UAE regarding the DNA samples. Samples were taken from them and preserved until those researches are done.”

“In addition to this, we have accomplished important achievements in the field of health awareness. The percentage of the health awareness for Thalassemia stood at 7% among the students in 2004. It reached 89.7% by 2006, only two years after launching the campaign. This means it is a real appreciated achievement for everyone who helped in doing it.”