Decide Diabetes Programme is running a screening and awareness campaign for diabetes at the AlBatha Learning Festival 2012, which will end today (January 22).

The festival took off on January 20 and has seen over 4,000 AlBahtha management and employees in attendance. It is being held at the GECO Complex Garden in Sharjah, a statement from the organization said.

Decide Diabetes is a not-for-profit programme which aims to promote better understanding of diabetes and greater awareness of the condition that could lead to successful prevention and management of diabetes.

Dr Wafaa Helmi Ayesh, director of the clinical nutrition department of the Dubai Health Authority; and Jan Felton, Decide spokesperson and managing director of MPC, held keynote speeches on ‘My Plate Planner’ and lifestyle change respectively.

The UAE has the second highest rate of diabetes cases worldwide with 25 percent of the population diagnosed with the condition. The programme aims to help lower this rate through informed decisions and healthy lifestyle options.

“Decide helps to support the medical community by creating a change in patient’s behavior outside the clinic where diabetes actually happens. It could be at home, cinema, university, work, restaurant, or anywhere in daily life. It’s not an easy task and is remarkably challenging, which is why Decide is a long term programme which involves major companies who care for the community’s well fare,” Felton said.

“Decide partners, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, LifeScan, Medtronic, Merck Serono, MPC, Nestlé Health Science, and Servier have all joined hands to fulfill the mission of Decide programme,” Felton added.

At the event, Decide held free diabetes screenings, lectures, quizzes and competitions for all AlBatha attendees, the statement said.

Officially launched in September 2011, Decide is an innovative and unique initiative of concerned major healthcare players in the UAE to fight diabetes through education, increased awareness and support, to prevent and manage diabetes effectively, it said. – TradeArabia News Service