Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) today announced the upcoming Middle East & North Africa (MENA) symposium on Newborn Screening (NBS) to be hosted by HMC during the period 26 – 29 April 2010. The event will be hosted in cooperation with, Sidra Center, Shafallah Center and Weil Cornell Medical College – Qatar (WCMC-Q).
The symposium shall rally 150 – 200 pediatricians and dieticians from the GCC countries, Europe, North Africa and America to discuss the latest innovations and developments in NBS, metabolic disorders diagnosis and treatment techniques in the MENA region. The symposium will benefit from the participation of internationally renowned medical centers from the USA such as the National Institute of Health (NIH), Communicable Disease Control Center (CDC), in addition to other prominent medical centers in Europe and the Middle East.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Janahi, Pediatrics consultant and Head of Pediatrics Chest Unit at HMC underlined the importance of the issues to be discussed, including setting up relevant policies with regard to NBS. “The importance of this symposium comes from its value in creating a scientific atmosphere that induces exchange of knowledge and expertise between all these experts,” Dr. Al Janahi emphasized; adding that: “The major objective is to create communication networks between pediatricians and NBS experts which facilitates development of NBS programs for the MENA region”.
“Children’s health is one of the essential mandates of Sidra Medical and Research Center, not only will it be one of our major clinical tasks, but it will also be an integral part of the center’s research agenda. There is no better way for prevention than early screening, which will not only help reduce the impact of newborn diseases but will also extend to other socio-economical benefits and will impact the rise in health costs regionally and globally. Through this conference we hope to define strategies that can be implemented swiftly, and foster more research collaborations in the field” said Dr. Haitham Alsalama, Executive Director for Administration and Scientific Policies at Sidra Center.
Dr. Hatem El-Shanti, Director Shafallah Medical Genetics Center, said that four Qatari institutions partnered together to host a large group of experts from more than 25 countries to work on the development of firm recommendations for screening, prevention and treatment of childhood disorders. Within this partnership spirit, the conference will focus on the promotion of a collaborative research network joining the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, to support these preventive programs.
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), the major partner in this collaboration will present a number of research papers and lectures on newborn screening. Javaid Sheikh, MD, dean of WCMC-Q said: “We truly value the participation of HMC, Shafallah Center and Sidra Center in this important symposium which will be a valuable platform to present the latest researches and developments in the field of pediatrics medicine”.
