“Healthy Day” at The American University in Dubai:
A Day of Applied Values for a Healthier Lifestyle for AUD Students
The Health Center at The American University in Dubai (AUD) organized yesterday “Healthy Day at AUD,” planned by a group of AUD students as part of their University Experience (UNIV) class project and supervised by Prof. Jason Seeto, Assistant Professor of English at AUD’s Department of Liberal Arts and Nelly Halabi, Director of the Health Center at AUD. Students, staff and faculty bodies assembled at the event to learn about the associated risks of an unhealthy lifestyle and the protective methods applied for a better and healthier living.
The activities covered an array of awareness topics, such as the Stop Smoking Campaign, with lung tests offered to students by specialists from The American Hospital, Oral and Personal Hygiene, with vouchers for free consultation and treatment planning at The Emirates Medical Center, Diet and Nutrition, with Body Mass Index (BMI) checkups performed by the AUD Health Center staff and UNIV students, Thalassemia in the UAE, with free blood tests for Thalassemia carried out by The UAE Genetic Disease Association, and Drug and Alcohol Awareness and Skin Cancer Awareness Campaigns, as well as Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s), with a lecture conducted by Dr. Dawn Owens Robinson, Obstetrician/Gynecologist at The American Hospital, on the types and causes of STD’s and their associated precautionary methods of protection as well as the importance of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV) as a preventive measure in the case of cervical cancer and genital warts.
Nelly Halabi, Director of the Health Center at AUD, commented, “Our aim is to have students engage in such awareness activities to promote attentiveness to precautionary health measures that can be taken to deter traits that are destructive to the human body, thus triggering the wellbeing of the youth.” “This event is a precedent on the nature of activities that are organized by AUD on a regular basis to promote the wellbeing of its community”, she added.
UNIV student Urshita Lele acknowledged the significance of such class projects in driving people to be aware of what is going on inside their bodily system, “The activity also helped me learn how to work as part of a group and collaborate with my fellow colleagues for a such a fine cause that promotes healthy living.”
In turn, Dr. Ameen Al Yousef, a General Dentist at The Emirates Medical Center, asserted that, “The Center collaborated with AUD in this initiative in an attempt to offer simple preventive methods to people illustrating to them how they can adopt habits that alter the lifestyle of each into a healthier and more hygienic one.”
As for Dr. Robinson, she emphasized that, “The awareness program is important to educate the college age population about sexually transmitted diseases and their associated risks.”
Nivine Mahfouz Harb, a phlebotomist at The UAE Genetic Disease Association, stressed on the importance of having the youth undergo blood tests for Thalassemia prior to marriage to determine the protective measures to be taken, with their prospective spouses, incase they turned out to be carriers of the disease. She noted, “The blood check process is made very simple in this activity to encourage the students to undergo the blood test; all that is required from them is to register in our online system where they can then view the results of their blood tests on our website.”
