The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and UAE University recently held a one-day academic event called ‘Public Health Update 2012’ to educate healthcare stakeholders on the latest developments in the field of public health and disease prevention.

The DHA and the Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science at the UAE University, undertook the joint initiative as part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that has been signed between the two bodies which aims to encourage knowledge exchange in the medical field.

Khalid Al Sheikh Mubarak, deputy director-general of the DHA stressed on the importance of continuing medical education to ensure that all healthcare stakeholders are up-to-date with the latest global developments in the medical field. “Medicine is ever-evolving and therefore at the DHA we pay particular emphasis to encourage continuing medical education.”

“This is important to ensure both the public and private sector healthcare professionals are aware of the latest developments in the field of medicine.”

More than 300 healthcare professionals attended the event, a statement from DHA said.

Tar-Ching Aw, professor and chairman of the Institute of Public Health, faculty of medicine and health sciences, in UAE University discussed the latest developments in occupational and environmental health.

Several other speakers discussed key topics such as communicable disease control, cardiovascular epidemiology, accident prevention, heat-related illnesses, and cancer prevention, the statement said.

Dr Khalil Qayed, director, medical education, DHA, said: “At the DHA, we strongly foster and encourage the culture of continuous medical education as it helps further strengthen the healthcare sector in the UAE and provide high-level of quality healthcare to the population and visitors.”

Dr Amer Sharif, programme coordinator and director of healthcare operations, hospital services sector, DHA, said: “We are glad to have partnered with the UAE University on this initiative. It is our endeavor to plan a series of such events during the course of this year as we firmly believe in the importance of knowledge exchange which is particularly important for the medical field.” – TradeArabia News Service