Speaking at the sixth annual InnovHealth on Sunday, Mark Adams, CEO of Gulf Healthcare, added that students’ BMI should also be a part of the teachers’ key performance indicators (KPIs) in order to make them accountable not only on the children’s scholastic progress but also on their health.

Adams also proposed that schools with healthy students should be recognised by the government through an award for their role in producing a healthy young population.  “This will encourage parents to enrol their children in that school,” Adams pointed out.

Noting the growing prevalence of diabetes on young people, Adams said “aggressive communication” needs to be started in order to curb this “herculean problem.” According to the studies carried out by the Ministry of Health (MoH) on school children in 2005, 12.1 per cent of students are found to be obese and 21.5 per cent are overweight. In 2010, similar studies revealed that 15.5 per cent are obese while 39.2 per cent are overweight, with BMIs exceeding 30.

“Despite all the efforts in tackling this issue, the prevalence of obesity and diabetes is increasing,” remarked Dr Salah Al Badawi, Director of Diabetes Control Programme at the MoH.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2010 figures showed that 18.7 per cent of the UAE’s adult population (between 20-79 years) have diabetes mellitus, the highest in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

By educating the youngsters about diabetes, health professionals hope that the prevalence and burden of the disease will eventually decrease in future.  In addition to education, the primary healthcare could also be effectively developed to manage diabetes in the country. Primary health physicians or family doctors could play a major role in curbing diabetes by speaking to the family about prevention and treatment from the early stages of the disease.

“Primary healthcare plays an important part in prevention as 80 per cent of the population go to health centres,” said Dr Al Badawi.  However, the role of primary healthcare here is not recognised for that purpose as patients see them only to get referral to other hospitals, Dr Khaled Al Jabari, consultant and chief endocrinologist at Mafraq Hospital, pointed out.

“Prevention has to start from home, school and at the workplace,” stated John Nickens, CEO of Mafraq Hospital.  As majority of the population are employed, he suggested that employers take a proactive role in improving the health of its workforce through annual checks, as part of its corporate social responsibility. “Employers have the responsibility to look after the health of its employees and get the rewards in the long term,” Nickens said.

According to him, investments have to be made on the employees’ health to “incentivise” them to have a good lifestyle, which in effect will result in an efficient and healthy workforce. “We have to focus on what we can do, not on what we can’t do,” he stressed.

The two-day summit was officially opened by Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licenses at the ministry. By Olivia Olarte, Khaleej Times

Current filtering software is allowing youngsters access to sites promoting self-harm more than any other unsuitable material, a survey said.

‘There is still at least a 20 per cent chance that sites with unsuitable material for children,’ the report said, ‘and especially those encouraging youngsters to self-harm – sites promoting anorexia, suicide or self-mutilation – could pass through the filters.’

The finding came in a study revealing that more British parents take action to block adult sites than those in other EU countries.

A total of 54 per cent of Britons said they use parental controls ‘or other means of blocking or filtering some types of website’.

That compares with an average across Europe of 33 per cent, with only Irish parents coming close to the UK figure, with 48 per cent routinely blocking sites.

The survey also warned that, while the vast majority of the software programmes tested enabled parents to block access, only a few products now on the market efficiently filtered so-called ‘web 2.0′ content, such as social networking sites or blogs.

Only a few products can filter web content accessed via mobile phones or game consoles.

The survey covered 26 parental control software programmes, three for games consoles and two for mobile phones

A commission statement said: ‘The publication of these surveys serves to raise awareness of the importance of protecting children from certain internet content while giving parents an objective view of which parental control software is the most effective.’ The Daily Mail

The 12-year-old boys targeted 13-year-old Darius Gill, from Coventry, central England, because he posted a tribute to British and US soldiers, to coincide with the UK’s annual day of memorial for members of the armed forces who died in conflict.

The boys threatened Darius with knives and knuckle dusters and one had posted a picture of himself holding a rifle. Other pupils from the school also added comments condemning Darius.

Darius, who has an Asian father and white mother, claimed the threats were the culmination of ongoing face-to-face bullying he has endured from the boys for not being Muslim.

Clare Allington, Darius’ mother, has taken her son out of the school, the Coventry Telegraph reported.

Allington, a mature student, said: “I usually keep an eye on what Darius posts on Facebook … I logged on and it broke my heart.

“I was reading all sorts about knuckle dusters, knives and death. They were planning to attack him at school that day so I rang the school straight away.”

The school principal said: “Two boys are going to be excluded until we are able to meet with the parents and resolve the issue.

“We will also be in contact with each and every pupil who also posted offensive comments to say they will not be allowed to return to school until they remove the comments from Facebook.” The Daily Telegraph Australia

World experts already recommend that infants are exclusively breastfed for at least the first six months of life.

For the study, the researchers tracked the health of 926 infants for a period of 12 months, recording any common infections these babies had during their first year of life.

All the newborns were routinely vaccinated and had access to a high standard of healthcare.

Overall, 91 of the infants were exclusively breastfed for a full six months.

Subsequently, these infants had significantly fewer common infections during their first year of life than their peers who were either partially breastfed or not breastfed at all.

These included respiratory and ear infections, as well as thrush.

Professor Emmanouil Galanakis and his team say it is the composition of breast milk that explains their findings, reports the BBC.

Breast milk contains antibodies passed from the mother, as well as other immunological and nutritional factors that help the baby fight off infections.

The study is published in Archives of Diseases in Childhood. Newstrack India

“What people need to know is that the heat will rise inside the car to a deadly level in a very short time and children can loose their lives if they are left in cars,” said Elena Acosta of Child Protective Services.

Organizers used thermometers to demonstrate how hot it can get inside a car. At the start of the demonstration the thermometer read 85 degrees inside the car, but within 15 minutes, the temperature soared to 115 degrees.

“The heat is deadly to their little bodies and these are child deaths that are totally preventable,” Acosta said.

A child’s body temperature increases three to five times faster than an adult and they can become dehydrated in minutes.

Kaitlin’s Law makes it illegal to leave a child six-years old or younger alone in the car without someone at least 12-years old.

District Attorney Lisa Green said parents and guardians who leave their children in the car will be prosecuted.

“We will aggressivly prosecute these cases because people, parents and all of us need to be responsible for our actions,” Green said.

Organizers suggest leaving something of value in the back seat of the car where your child is, such as a cell phone, so busy parents do not forget to take their kids out of the car.

If you want to participate in Purple Ribbon Month, to raise awareness about child endangerment, you can wear a purple ribbon to remind parents to not leave children in cars.

If you see a child alone in a car you are urged to call the Bakersfield Police Department at 327-7111. msnbc

Nevertheless, write but also read everything you can get your hands on pertaining to writing. It’s not just about having a great idea for a story, but it’s about how you tell the story too. The different story elements, when woven together properly, can sweep readers off their feet and make it impossible – or at least painful – to put the book down. And most of all, keep work readable before publishing, so as to connect and share your inspirations with writers and readers. Unlike some other books which are not pleasure reading so much as they’re self-imposed homework. A good career book should be short and direct enough that a person can easily get through it and put it to work. But it should be lively enough that homework isn’t a total drag.

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Art dealer Tarana Khubchandani fought against the disease and survived the battle. Now, she is going all out to spread awareness about it and also collect funds for treatment of cancer-affected patients through an NGO. Supporting her in this cause are Salman Khan, actor Shatrugan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi, former beauty queen Diana Hayden, Suniel Shetty and his wife Mana and renowned artists like Akbar Padamsee, SH Raza, Ram Kumar and Paritosh Sen along with businesswoman Rajashree Birla.

Tarana says, “We have organised an art exhibition where works of the artists will be up for sale. The proceeds will go towards spreading awareness about breast cancer and its treatment. Every year we distribute chemotherapy drugs to government cancer hospitals and also identify people whose treatment we would sponsor.”

Sonakshi has posed for a calendar portraying the various roles that a woman plays — daughter, sister, mother, lover, friend etc. She says, “Each woman shares a sense of responsibility towards the other and by involving myself in this cause, I am fulfilling a part of that responsibility.” The calendars will be sold for Rs500 each.

Diana says, “The more awareness we spread, the better it is. The number of breast cancer cases is increasing and people should know how to detect and cure it.”

There are also diaries designed by artists Arzan Khambatta and Seema Kohli. Arzan says, “I wanted 12 sketches for the diary. I drew out the 12 signs of the zodiac. In the beginning of the diary there is information on breast cancer.” Akbar Padamsee says, “Signs of breast cancer can be self-detected and it is curable if detected earlier.”

Rajashree Birla says, “One in every 25 women in urban areas is cancer-afflicted. The rate may increase. It’s time to stop it.” By Riddhi Doshi, DNA India

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