Mona Al Hammoudi (Abu Dhabi)
Since its establishment, the United Arab Emirates has placed the health of its citizens and residents at the forefront of its work, by providing the best medical services and continuously upgrading the level of health services, recording a track record of achievements and initiatives that drew the map of the work of the health sector in the country and proved its worth and made it one of the Initial choices of individuals inside and outside the country. The health system in the UAE, represented by the Ministry of Health and Community Protection, the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Health Authority, has achieved a distinguished and pioneering role and qualitative leaps thanks to its continued progress and advancement in light of the leadership’s great attention to community health in terms of providing the elements of health care that meet the needs of citizens and residents On the land of the state through a future vision in line with the development and prosperity that the UAE is experiencing today. The health system in the UAE confirms its position and strength, through a series of international cooperation and issues many international indicators related to the health sector, especially those related to dealing with emergency and pandemic situations, and “Covid-19” comes as tangible evidence of the strong infrastructure and human cadres capable in The country that was able to deal with the pandemic at a time when some countries witnessed the collapse of their health system.
The Emirati experience in dealing with the “Covid-19” pandemic has proven the high and professional capabilities of the UAE in facing challenges, as it topped the world summit in many indicators related to dealing with “Covid-19” in terms of addressing the virus, treatment and reducing the death rate, up to the stage full recovery. The official statistics in the country showed that the UAE has maintained high recovery rates from “Covid-19”, from the total confirmed infections that have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. Thus, it is considered one of the countries with the highest recovery rates and the lowest death cases.
Distinguished from the start
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UAE has adopted exceptional measures to overcome the most difficult stages of the spread of the virus and confront it with all the necessary resources and tools, as it launched the national sterilization program to limit the spread of the virus through a series of measures that received great acceptance and cooperation from members of society, who showed full compliance with all decisions related to limiting the spread of the virus. virus.
And the UAE implemented the distance education and remote work systems, as a precautionary measure to protect students and employees from “Covid-19”, as the country implemented the distance education system for all students from March 22, 2020, and applied the decision to public and private schools, and all higher education institutions. It also developed a comprehensive system to activate remote work for all employees in various sectors, in order to ensure business continuity and uninterrupted service provision, which had a significant impact in accelerating many transactions and not interrupting them.
The UAE has been recorded using many innovative ways to confront the “Corona” virus and limit its spread since the beginning of the pandemic, as it was one of the first countries to implement the “Covid-19” examination from inside the vehicle, which was conducted through centers distributed in all the emirates of the country in record time. It exceeds five minutes, in order to preserve the health and safety of community members and health sector workers.
And the UAE has succeeded in the successful practical application of the use of police dogs in the country’s airports to detect possible people infected with the “Corona” virus, to be the first country in the world to succeed in implementing this scientific experiment as part of its efforts to limit the spread of the virus.
And the UAE used innovative treatments for people infected with the “Covid-19” virus, such as stem cell therapy, and the first country to adopt the new drug “sutrovimab” to treat “Covid-19” after the approval of the American Food and Drug Authority for it, as it brought the drug to the state and began treating all cases of people infected with the virus. Those whose condition requires the need for this type of treatment.
As well as building the largest laboratory in the world to test the emerging “Corona” outside China, and many other precautionary measures in all fields, which contributed greatly to limiting the spread of the virus.
Availability of examinations
In order to control the pandemic, the UAE has worked since the beginning of the pandemic to prepare all the ways and means that provide examinations to all residents of the country in the easiest and most enabling way, through various systems to monitor the numbers of infected people and proactive examinations for those in contact with them to limit the spread of the virus.
The UAE is the first in the world in the number of “Covid-19” examinations, reaching 123 million, 744 thousand and 899 examinations since the beginning of the pandemic, as the national survey centers for “Covid-19” are available through the vehicle in all emirates of the country, as it is available in most Health centers and hospitals across the country at an appropriate amount for everyone, in addition to free examination for many categories. Thus, it is considered the first country in the world in which the number of tests for the emerging coronavirus exceeds the number of the actual population.
Vaccine for everyone
The UAE has achieved the first global ranks in the rate of distribution of daily doses of the vaccine for individuals, and it has also achieved a position among the first five in the world in the availability of doses of the “Covid-19” vaccine, as the number of doses provided to the population to date has reached 23 million and 445 thousand and 868 doses. Thus, the proportion of recipients of two doses of the vaccine for the total population reached 93.83%, and the UAE has adopted 4 types of vaccines to vaccinate individuals against “Covid-19”, which are: Sinofarm vaccine, “Pfizer-Biontech” vaccine, “Sputnik V” vaccine, and “Oxford-AstraZeneca” vaccine. », where it provided free vaccination to all wishing citizens and residents.
The UAE was one of the first countries to participate in clinical trials for the production of “Covid-19” vaccines, out of its keenness to speed up the creation and production of an effective vaccine to vaccinate the entire population, out of concern for achieving acquired immunity resulting from vaccination, which contributed significantly to reducing the number of cases. Controlling the Corona virus and limiting its spread.
And the UAE announced, last March, the start of the production of an anti-Coronavirus vaccine inside the country under the name “Hayat-Fax”, and it is considered the first locally-made vaccine in the region, which was manufactured by the UAE “G42”, a pioneer in the technology sector based in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. .
The world’s first in flexibility in dealing with the pandemic
The UAE rose to first place globally on the Bloomberg Index for the best countries in resilience in dealing with the “Covid-19” pandemic, advancing two places from the previous classification, and achieving 78.9 points on the general index.
The UAE is ahead of countries such as: Finland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Spain, Canada, Hong Kong, and the United States.
In its classification, “Bloomberg” relied on key measures and methodologies for countries, such as the capabilities of the local health care system, the impact of virus-related restrictions on the economy, the freedom of movement of people, as well as rates of infection increase, and the ability to do the required tests and precautionary measures to deal with the “Covid-19” virus. ».
The UAE also ranked first globally in the latest classifications of resilience to deal with the “Covid-19” pandemic, according to the Epidemiological Resilience Index 2022, issued by the American Consumer Choice Center.
The Foundation explained that the mass detection of “Corona”, the distribution of vaccines and booster doses, are among the main factors that helped the UAE to top the classification. The UAE scored 9.5 points on the general index, outperforming Cyprus, Luxembourg, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Austria.
According to a survey of the Global Soft Power Index, issued by “Brand Finance” from Britain, the UAE topped the list of countries in the Middle East region in the best deal to lead countries during the global “Covid-19” crisis.
It ranked first in the Arab world and third globally in terms of public satisfaction with the measures and measures taken by the government in relation to combating the epidemic, according to a report issued by the Toluna International Foundation to survey consumers last June. On the other hand, Abu Dhabi ranked first globally among the world’s 25 leading cities in response to the “Covid-19” pandemic, followed by the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the Australian capital, Sydney, respectively, according to the latest classification issued recently by the Deep Knowledge Group, which is based on London based.
Aspects of assessing cities’ response to the pandemic focused on a number of axes, including the efficiency of government performance in terms of control and crisis management systems, the strength of the economic sector under the pandemic, health sector management in terms of modern and digital technologies used, human competencies that contribute to the health sector, and the effectiveness of diagnostic systems. The number of beds in health facilities.
Aspects of the assessment also include the efficiency of the home quarantine system, including the scope and duration of home quarantine, economic support for those in quarantine, travel guidelines and restrictions, and legal procedures for violators of home quarantine instructions. The focus of the last assessment is the rates and availability of vaccination against “Covid-19” among the population.
Latest Treatments
As one of the basics of treatment in the health sector, the UAE health system is constantly working to regulate, register and monitor all types of pharmaceutical preparations, including traditional and herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, medical means and others in the country, as this registration process is subject to strict procedures of examination and scrutiny to ensure The safety and safety of the use of these medicines in order to preserve the health and safety of patients and members of society.
The UAE also seeks, through its advanced and advanced health system, to be closely informed of all developments and recent releases of medicines for all treatments, and the pandemic comes to confirm this by providing the state with the latest medicines for the treatment of “Covid-19”. Abu Dhabi became the first city in the world to obtain the drug “Sutrovimab”, after it was licensed for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration, and the first shipments of “EvoShield” drug, developed by AstraZeneca, arrived in the UAE last December. In the world, you receive the drug, after obtaining emergency use approval from the UAE Ministry of Health and Community Protection.
The development of this drug, which works by generating long-acting antibodies, came to treat severe cases of patients who do not show an adequate immune response to fight the virus.
humanitarian efforts
Despite the impact of the pandemic on all countries, including the UAE, it has spared no effort to provide aid and assistance inside and outside the country to all those affected by the virus, as the UAE was one of the first countries to support humanitarian initiatives during the pandemic, as the aid provided by the state constituted 80% of The scale of the response to affected countries during the pandemic, by sending tons of medical aid, respiratory devices, testing devices, personal protective equipment, and supplies to 135 countries around the world. In addition to establishing many field hospitals in different countries to provide examinations and treatments for those infected with “Covid-19”.
The UAE also announced the establishment of the “Pride of the Nation” office headed by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and aims to appreciate the efforts of participants on the front lines in times of emergency and crises.
Global transport and distribution of the “Covid-19” vaccine
The Hope Coalition initiative is one of the most prominent initiatives launched by the UAE to facilitate the transfer and distribution of “Covid-19” vaccines around the world, the Emirates Airline Center for Vaccine Storage and Distribution, the Dubai Logistics Alliance to speed up the distribution of “Covid-19” vaccines, support the “Kofax Initiative”, and the Dubai Logistics Alliance. The Red Crescent has joint ambition to provide vaccines to several countries.
The “Coalition of Hope” is a participatory alliance between the public and private sectors, based in the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi-led Hope Coalition aims to support global efforts to transport and distribute Covid-19 vaccines to all parts of the world, and provide 18 billion doses of vaccine by the end of 2021. Vaccines are stored at Abu Dhabi Ports facilities, which has the largest chain of cold and ultra-cold storage facilities In the Middle East, . Vaccines are distributed by Etihad Cargo, which is the first carrier in the Middle East to be certified by the International Air Transport Association’s Center of Excellence for Independent Auditors (CEIV) in the field of pharmaceutical logistics. On the other hand, Emirates SkyCargo, the cargo arm of Emirates Airlines, has designated the world’s first air cargo center dedicated to storing and distributing vaccines, at Sky Central Terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). “Sky Central” includes a drug storage area of more than 4,000 square meters, to store and distribute “Covid-19” vaccines. The capacity of this facility is estimated at about 10 million vaccine vials at once, in an environment whose temperature constantly varies between 2-8 degrees Celsius. In addition to refrigerated storage, Emirates SkyCargo provides dedicated areas for value-added services, such as repackaging and cooling of vaccines, for distribution to its customers around the world.
Dubai has launched a logistical alliance to transport, store and expedite the distribution of vaccines around the world, from the Emirate of Dubai. This alliance supports the “Kofax Initiative” launched by the World Health Organization with the aim of equitably distributing about two billion doses of “Covid-19” vaccines during the year 2021, with a special focus on developing countries, whose populations have been severely affected by the epidemic, and which face challenges in transporting and distributing Medicinal preparations.
The vaccine alliances in the country have facilitated the receipt and storage of large quantities of vaccine doses, and then their distribution to any point around the world within 48 hours at the latest. In addition to transporting food and medicine. The Emirates Red Crescent Authority and Tamouh Healthcare Company also launched a joint initiative to provide “Covid-19” vaccines to countries facing challenges in limiting the spread of the “Corona” pandemic on their soil, in order to enhance the efforts of the UAE to address the repercussions of the pandemic globally.
Dubai airport at full capacity
Last December, Dubai International Airport, which is one of the world’s busiest airports, returned to work 100% for the first time since the closures caused by the Corona virus in March 2020, as the return included all stations, buildings, restrooms, restaurants, and retail outlets.