The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is carrying out a health and socio-economic survey in Dubai, which aims to understand health issues and risk factors that affect the population of the emirate.

The study, which will involve 3,000 families in Dubai, is expected to contribute in establishing comprehensive health promotion programs as well as for chalking out preventive and curative strategies based on actual community health needs of residents.

Dr Ahmad Bin Kalban, CEO of Primary Healthcare Sector (PHS) at the DHA highlighted the importance of this survey and said that the results and analysis of the survey is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Dr Kalban said that this project is in line with the “The Pan Arab Project of Family Health".

He said the survey will study the health, social status and healthcare needs of the population in Dubai with an aim to identify risk factors that may contribute to health problems among this population. Ultimately, the study will suggest some interventional strategies to tackle pressing healthcare issues.

Dr Ahmed Wasfi, public health consultant and director of Arab Board Residency Training at PHC said the survey is divided into three phases.

“In the first phase, which began in mid-May this year, we are training the team members about the different aspects of this survey,” he said.

“Phase two includes data entry and analysis and finally in phase three we will prepare a comprehensive report with recommendations and action plans that need to be undertaken to improve the health of our population.

“This survey will provide evidence-based interventional strategies on how to tackle the detected health problems with an aim to improve the overall health of the population of Dubai.”

Dr Wasfi has added that members of the Community Medicine Research and Training Department, social workers and health educators from DHA are part of the team dedicated for this project.

The survey will be conducted across the Emirate of Dubai and will target all age groups including children, mothers, adolescents and elders. Comprehensive data about socio-demographic aspects, health and social parameters will be collected.

Dr Essam Mohammed El Sawaf, public health and occupational medicine consultant at PHS, said: “We aim to accomplish all the three phases of this survey by the first quarter of 2014. Such a survey is considered to be an important step and is essential to understand the fundamental healthcare issues and risk factors of the population in Dubai.”

He added that there is no doubt that the results of the survey will present meaningful information for decision makers and will help them tackle the most prevalent health problems in our community.

Dr Maisoon Al Shaali, specialist registrar, community medicine, PHS at the DHA said: “Surveying the healthcare status of families in Dubai will provide comprehensive data on behavioural patterns and risk factors which will be used to plan comprehensive strategies to improve the health of the population of Dubai.” – TradeArabia News Service