SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT - UAE Interact

262 U N I T E D A R A B E M I R AT E S Y E A R B O O K 2 0 0 8continue to form new partnerships with international organisationsto develop and implement these campaigns.The hospitals work in collaboration with Primary Health Centres,the focus of which is maternal and child welfare, school healthand health education. As part of an effort to enforce higherstandards, HAAD recently closed 25 primary health care (PHC)clinics and will establish new facilities to include additional servicessuch as dentistry. The redefinition of PHCs includes a strengthenedrole for general practitioners to serve as more effective gatekeepersfor hospital care and a focus on making PHCs more attractive toconsumers who have resisted these institutions in the past.After more than 30years of hard work, theUAE has become thefirst country in the Araband Mediterraneanregion to be formallydeclared free of malariaby the World HealthOrganisation.DISEASE CONTROLThirty-six infectious diseases are included in the control programmesthat are jointly organised by the Ministry of Health with relevantministries and agencies in order to effectively coordinate suitableintervention methods, including vaccination, vector control, healtheducation and chemoprophylaxis. The elimination of polio, measlesand neonatal tetanus are examples of the significant successesachieved in this area.In addition, after more than 30 years of hard work, the UAE hasbecome the first country in the Arab and Mediterranean regionto be formally declared free of malaria by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO).The UAE has been working to reduce and eradicate malaria – adisease that kills one million people worldwide every year – since1977 when the first Malaria Control Department was set up.Gradually, the UAE perfected its onslaught against malaria andthere have been no local infections of the disease since 1997.But certification does not mean that the Emirates can relax sinceneighbouring countries still harbour the disease, and the country'shigh number of foreign residents and tourists means that there is aconstant threat of reintroduction. Therefore, the National MalariaProgramme’s main focus will be the prevention of reintroduction ofmalaria and the maintenance of the malaria-free status. Effectivesurveillance and vector control measures will address the factors ofvulnerability and receptivity in all parts of the UAE.