The UAE Ministry of Health (MoH), represented by H.E Mr. Humaid Al Qutami, Minister of Health and Les Laboratoires Servier represented by Mr. Antoine Moukheiber, Managing Director of the Near & Middle East, Africa & French Overseas Territories, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today, to undertake the Hypertension Global Care Program in the UAE to tackle the menace of hypertension.
The MOU provides a comprehensive framework for greater collaboration between the UAE Ministry of Health and Les Laboratoires Servier in tackling the problem of hypertension.
The Hypertension Global Care program will:
• see the collaboration of the MoH and Les Laboratoires Servier in screening the population
• see the development of more awareness campaigns
• provide education and training for members of the medical fraternity and the community
• have the Ministry of Health and Les Laboratoires Servier work together to mutually identify the markers for an early diagnosis of hypertension
Les Laboratoires Servier will also provide a qualified expert from Canada who has a rich experience in conceiving and implementing hypertension initiatives around the globe to consult with the MoH.
The World Health Organization in their first country-by-country study of how the environment in which people live affects their health found that 18 per cent of the UAE’s burden of disease was preventable. A breakdown of the UAE’s results shows that 3.1% of deaths are due to cardiovascular disease, compared to 2.2% for Qatar. Data from hospitals in the Abu Dhabi Eastern Region showed that cardiovascular diseases were responsible for 26 per cent of deaths, killing 19 people in the period between July 8 and August 7 this year alone.
“In the UAE we urgently need to identify the markers for an early diagnosis of hypertension and thus reduce the disease burden on the community as a whole,”. Said H. E. Mr. Humaid Al Qutami, Minister of Health. “This Hypertension Global Care program will provide us with the resources and funding necessary to look at the problem of hypertension on a long term scale, and reverse these startling statistics”, the Minister added.
“We are committed to providing one million dirhams in funding for successful completion of this initiative”, said Mr. Antoine Moukheiber, Managing Director of the Near & Middle East, Africa & French Overseas Territories, Les Labortoires Servier. ‘The Hypertension Global Care program will be run over three years and we will provide the funding for all the initiatives,” added Moukheiber.
-end-
About Les Laboratoires Servier:
Les Laboratoires Servier is a leading independent French pharmaceutical company established in 1954. It is a research based organization with products specializing in cardiology, diabetes, depression and venous disease.
Servier is based in over 140 countries with a workforce of approximately 17,500, in addition to 2,500 employees dedicated to Research & Development (R&D).
The company has one of the world’s highest ratios of investment in R&D; an average of 25% of Servier’s turnover is invested in R&D. In addition to its current product base, Servier has achieved consistently high growth especially in the last decade in the following principle areas of therapeutic research:
o Cardiovascular diseases
o Central nervous system and psychiatry
o Oncology
o Diabetes and metabolism
o Rheumatology
For more information, please contact:
