The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP), collaboratively with Pfizer, has launched “Keep On Beating” campaign in a bid to make positive lifestyle changes and to early detect cardiovascular disease-related risk factors including; smoking, malnutrition, inactivity and stress, since these diseases are not only confined to genetic factors such as (family history, gender, and age).
The campaign is part of the joint Memorandum of Understanding between MoHAP and Pfizer on World Heart Day 2018. The campaign will also help promote public awareness about risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases, implement training programmes to increase medical team professionalism and develop an innovative system to bolster the patient’s self-care.
The preparation for running the programme has kicked off a few months ago through holding diverse workshops with the competent team of the national indicators for cardiovascular diseases at MoHAP’s headquarters. This programme aims at confronting today’s challenges with regard to the management of cardiovascular diseases and developing action plans for alleviating the burden of heart diseases by the year 2021.
Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Mortality by 25% in the UAE by 2021
Commenting on the launch of “Keep On Beating” Campaign, His Excellency Dr. Yousif Al Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for the Hospitals Sector, said: “Reducing cardiovascular disease-related mortality is a top priority within the health theme of the National Agenda 2021 which set the objective of reducing cardiovascular disease-related mortality by 25% as one of the key performance indicators. This is to measure the performance of the National Agenda in terms of carrying out the sought-after objectives through education improvement, and risk factors identification and monitoring.
“We have made notable progress to achieve this goal, however, there’s still a need to further procedures in order to reduce mortalities. For that reason, we have established this cooperation with Pfizer to develop “Keep On Beating” campaign and we are confident that it will help promote public awareness and make positive lifestyle changes for the UAE population. We also urge healthcare providers to pursue their efforts in educating patients about risk factors and make sure that they are conducting proper conversations with their patients to further engage them in promoting their health,” Al Serkal noted.
He added that the campaign comes in conjunction with the exerted efforts to accomplish the National Policy Plan for Cardiovascular Care Services, establish a national record and develop smart applications for risk factors.
Diverse Media Campaigns
The public awareness pillar has been officially kicked off on 1 May 2019 through the existence of an innovative machine “coin-selling machine” at MoHAP’s headquarters. The aim is to present a gift as a reward for the calories burned. Further details about the whereabouts of the machine will be announced on official accounts of the campaign on social media platforms.
Close Cooperation with MoHAP
In turn, Ayman Mokhtar, General Manager for GCC, Pfizer, said: “The UAE National Agenda 2021 aims to achieve healthcare system as per international standards by reducing the relevant lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, health education and awareness are essential factors to ensure a happy and healthy life. For that reason, we fostered our cooperation with MoHAP to develop “Keep On Beating” Campaign.
He added that cardiovascular diseases are not only emerging from genetic factors, which are irreversible changes, such as family history, gender, and age. There are also other factors which could be controllable and preventable in most cases. This includes smoking, malnutrition, inactivity, and stress. Studies showed that at-risk cases of cardiovascular diseases could a have better life if they realized the impact of their lifestyle on their health and ways to reduce the hazards of cardiovascular diseases.