It is very important to focus on harnessing the resources and efforts to find new solutions to obesity, given the fact that about a third of the population of the UAE is classified as obese, experts say. 

 

Physicians from Imperial College London Diabetes Centre and Healthpoint shared knowledge and expertise alongside local and international speakers from government, medical and academic institutions at the third UAE Obesity Conference, which was held virtually from November 18 to 20. 

 

Experts from Mubadala Health’s Imperial London College Diabetes Centre (ICLDC) and Healthpoint  have again been actively involved in the organisation of the conference. 

 

The conference, endorsed by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC), was supported by the World Obesity Federation. The three-day event was attended by medical professionals including nurses, pharmacists and doctors.

 

This year’s event was also attended by World Obesity President, Prof John Wilding, and world-expert Prof Carel Le Roux (Dublin, Ireland), alongside healthcare leaders from the UAE and GCC. The theme this year was “When two pandemics collide: Obesity and Covid-19”, with the overall objective of highlighting the challenge of obesity and its complications, the underlying causes, as well as the scale of the issue and ways to tackle it, including advances in technology, specific diets, and newer medical and surgical interventions.

 

The event was chaired by ICLDC consultant endocrinologist and diabetologist Dr Sara Suliman, with Healthpoint consultant bariatric surgeon Dr Mohammed Al Hadad serving as co-chair of the organising committee. In addition to Mubadala Health experts serving on the organising committee, several Mubadala Health physicians were speakers at the event.

 

Dr Suliman said: “After the tremendous success of the past two annual conferences, we again focused on solutions, and on multidisciplinary insights into the management and prevention of obesity. We planned a comprehensive program that makes an important contribution to the continuing professional development of healthcare professionals who treat people with obesity.” 

 

Co-chair Dr Al Hadad, who is the head of Healthpoint’s Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Centre, said: “We must find new solutions to this phenomenon and share knowledge with international experts on obesity prevention and management.”

 

ICLDC consultant endocrinologist and diabetologist Dr Matthew Allum, one of the speakers, said that obesity is also associated with many chronic health problems, and therefore has a significant impact on the quality of life of individuals. He delivered a presentation discussing research on the use of newer medications to address the problem of weight gain after bariatric surgeries such as gastric sleeve procedures. 

 

During the course of the conference, speakers covered topics such as UAE-specific aspects of obesity; regional guidelines for treatment; the impact of Covid-19 and technology on obesity; the role of diets, medication and bariatric surgery; childhood obesity; how obesity affects fertility; and management of weight regain following bariatric surgery.-- TradeArabia News Service