Your Health Matter' campaign offers free medical check-ups at City Centre

The initiative, launched by sanofi-aventis pharmaceuticals in April 07, is running from the 2nd - 3rd of November, will offer medical advice and free medical check-ups for blood pressure, blood glucose levels and waist circumference, to the public.

The campaign supported by the UAE Ministry of Health and organized by the World Health Organization, the Gulf Heart Association, the Emirates Cardiac Society and Sanofi-Aventis pharmaceuticals, aims to promote the dangers of increased waist circumference and associated cardio metabolic risk factors and their link to cardiovascular disease.

"Abdominal obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the Pan Arab region, and we feel it is our duty to educate the public on the dire consequences associated with it" said Dr. Mariam Mattar, Assistant Undersecretary of Public Health and Primary Health Care, MOH. "Abdominal obesity is a health problem, through this campaign we aim to identify people that are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and then provide them with an appropriate life style modification plan and advice them to seek medical advice if necessary."

"Cardiovascular diseases are prevalent in the Gulf States, particularly due to the high incidence of risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, and obesity" says Dr. Wael Al Mahmeed, Vice President of Emirates Cardiac Society. "Recent international studies such as the Inter-Heart study have shown that increased waist circumference or abdominal obesity predicts future cardiovascular diseases. If we treat patients with increased waist circumference, we can hopefully prevent diabetes and future heart disease"

The importance of waist circumference or abdominal obesity

Recent epidemiological surveys have shown that abdominal obesity is a better predictor of cardiovascular disease than body weight or Body Mass Index (BMI). The reason is that BMI does not take into account the distribution of body fat. This is important because people with abdominal obesity (as measured by waist circumference) can be characterized by a whole cluster of metabolic complications, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Cardio Metabolic Cluster of risk factors entail: factors which increase a person's chance of developing either cardiovascular disease or Type II Diabetes or both. It is characterized by abdominal obesity, abnormal levels of lipids in the blood, high blood pressure, elevated insulin and/or glucose intolerance. Men and women with cardio metabolic risk clusters are at a high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

'Your Health Matters' campaign

'Your Health Matters' was launched to raise awareness in the UAE on the importance of monitoring your health and educating the public about the most effective ways to control cardio-metabolic risks.

Results of the first Phase of the campaign showed that a staggering 34 per cent of men and women are abdominally obese and are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.