LIFESTYLE AND NEWS - New cycle tracks in Dubai: RTA planning cycling routes for 11 neighbourhoods - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

 

Dh40 million project to be completed by 2016

 

Dubai: Cycling enthusiasts in Dubai are in for a treat as projects to build new tracks across 11 locations in the city have been launched, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced. The announcement from RTA comes close on the heels of opening a 75-km long Dubai Cycling Course in Seih Assalam, part of a cycling master plan that includes a 25km track in Jumeirah as well as smaller tracks near Mall of the Emirates, Al Mamzar Park and Al Mizhar Park. Apart from these tracks, RTA is currently constructing a 4.5-km-long track in the central district of Bur Dubai, and has completed the designs of four tracks linking Jumeirah Road with four Metro stations on Shaikh Zayed Road. Additionally, the authority has completed the construction of 1,400 bike racks around all Metro stations. Following the successful implementation of the first phase of the cycling master plan, RTA has now approved construction of cycling tracks in 11 residential areas stretching 52km at a cost of Dh40 million. Article continues below <a href="http://adtech.alnisrgroup.com/adlink/3.0/1348/4151271/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=;kvlabel=;kvkeywords=uae%20traffic%20and%20transport;kvpublication=gulfnews;kvsubsection=uae;" target="_blank"> <img src="http://adtech.alnisrgroup.com/adserv/3.0/1348/4151271/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=;kvlabel=;kvkeywords=uae%20traffic%20and%20transport;kvpublication=gulfnews;kvsubsection=uae;" border="0" width="300" height="250"> </a> “The construction of the cycling tracks is part of a master plan developed by RTA to provide dedicated cycling spaces across the entire Dubai emirate in a bid to encourage the use of bikes as an environment-friendly transit means, as well as for the benefit of cycling enthusiasts,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA. Work on the new cycling tracks will begin this year and will be completed by 2016. Residential areas like Al Barsha, Al Khawaneej, Al Warqa, Al Quoz, Al Safouh Road, Al Mamzar Park, Mushrif Park, Hor Al Anz East, and Mirdif, have been selected for the project. Al Tayer said the areas were selected based on various parameters including their popularity with tourists and their aesthetic nature. The areas are also frequented by cyclists and serve the Metro and public transport stations. “The design of the tracks has been tailored to ensure the security and safety of bikers and the locations have been selected keeping in mind the convenience of residents and visitors to the areas, suitability of the site, traffic safety, and the appeal to pedestrians,” added Al Tayer. Al Tayer said that since 2008 RTA has developed a Cycling Master Plan that included charting routes for bikes within the rights-of-way as well as separate lanes. The Plan detailed the specifications and standards of separating cycling tracks from pedestrian pathways, and addressed the intersection points with cycling tracks, provision of biking racks in general and at the public transport stations in particular, cycling lanes in entertainment areas, materials to be used in the construction of cycling tracks, and signage for bikes and tracks. So far the biggest of the cycling projects constructed by the RTA has been the 75-km-long Dubai Cycling Course. The first part of this course stretching 18km alongside Al Qudra Road North was opened in January. The second part of the course, which was opened in March, stretches about 49km, starting from the front of Bab Al Shams Hotel up to Al Qudra Road roundabout, then turns southward alongside the road leading to Seih Assalam. The course includes public utilities and shops for hiring bikes, gear and accessories in addition to a medical clinic.

HEALTH - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Fight against child obesity continues in the UAE

Nearly one third of children are obese or overweight, and junk food is to blame

• Dr Liza M Thomas of the Canadian Specialist Hospital with schoolchildren from across Dubai, during an antiobesity presentation.

Dubai: Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the UAE with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and a host of obesity-related medical conditions.
                         
With nearly a third of children either obese or overweight, government and local hospitals are shoring up efforts to tackle the obesity rate.
                                     
The latest anti-obesity campaign titled ‘Act Now’ was launched Monday by the Canadian Specialist Hospital (CSH).
                         
Aimed at kids, the ongoing campaign discusses prevention, causes, health risks and solutions.

Article continues below

Health authorities, medical professionals, and parents are concerned.
This week, the UAE was listed seventh on the Global Fat Scale among 177 countries, calculated using UN data on population size and estimates of global weight from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

 

Last year’s figures from a nationwide survey of Emirati and expatriate schoolchildren by the Ministry of Health (MoH) stated that 15.5 per cent are obese, 39.2 per cent are overweight and a worrying 21 per cent had fast food three times or more a day.
                         
“The rate hasn’t lowered. There are more than 30 per cent of UAE kids are who obese,” said Dr Liza Thomas, Specialist Internal Medicine, CSH, speaking to Gulf News.
                         
“The statistics are alarming,” said Dr Ali Reza Eghtedari, Consultant Surgeon and Head of Laparoscopic and Obesity Speciality Clinic at CHS.
                         
He told Gulf News that obese children, some as young as eight years old, are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
                         
“The harmful effects of obesity among children are evident early on. These can range from diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol.
                         
“I know of young obese patients who have both diabetes and hypertension — fatal for the kidney. If obesity rates aren’t checked, these children will grown up to be unhealthy adults with several medical complications,” he said.
                         
The leading cause of obesity is the availability of junk food and lack of parental involvement in making health a priority, said Dr Thomas.
                         
She explained that parents find it more convenient to visit a fast food outlet then to prepare a healthy meal at home.
                         
She highlighted the role of parents in preventing obesity. She said parents should be role models first. “When children watch their parents eat healthy, they will also emulate them. The learning starts at home and progresses at school and community levels.”
                         
Gulf News also spoke to parents and children to learn of their attitudes towards their health.
Jenny Akiki, mother of Adriana, 10, and two-month-old Eva said being a good role model is the only way to convince your kid to adopt the same lifestyle.
                         
“If my kids see me eating burgers and fries, they will surely not want the broccoli and carrots I give them.”
                         
Akiki prepares Adriana’s meals, including her school lunch box. “I am not convinced of how healthy the school canteen food is so I prefer to cook her meals. Junk food is allowed only on rare occasions.”
Parul Soparkar, grandfather of Aanya, four, said that health is a top priority at the household, and that corrective eating behaviours have to start young. “Aanya is a fussy eater, but has to learn to eat all the food that is good for her.”
                         
Jack Simpson, 12, and Megan Valk, 14, are both students at Dubai English Speaking School (DESS). While they lead active lives, a few of their peers need to change their current lifestyle.
                         
Simpson said, “I have a friend who eats two to three donuts at a time, and enjoys food from fast food outlets. He is trying to lose weight now after realising that he cannot run as fast.”
                         
Valk said, “I have a few friends who do not participate in activities outside of PE [physical education], but they are conscious about their weight. To lose weight, they tend to skip their meals at school knowing that they wouldn’t be allowed to do the same at home.”

HEALTH - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Unusually large polyp removed from child in Dubai

Six-centimetre growth was the largest ever seen in a child, says Dubai-based doctor

• Image Credit: Oliver Clarke/ Gulf News
• Camille and her mother Chunhui Yu Bangerter. Camille recently underwent colonoscopy to remove a tumour.

Dubai: “We couldn’t believe it,” said the mother of a toddler after a Dubai-based doctor successfully removed a very large polyp from her child’s insides without invasive surgery.
                         
“We had given up hope,” said Chunhui Yu Bangerter, who had consulted more than six doctors after her daughter started passing blood in her stools. Every one of them suggested that the child be operated on to remove the growth.
                                     
The child, Camille, 2 1/2 years old, was diagnosed with a colonic polyp, a growth in the large intestine.
                         
“I looked at the video of the colonoscopy and decided that it can be removed using the colonoscope,” Dr Tareq Saleh, consultant gastroenterologist, told Gulf News.

“I was thinking that the growth is about 3cms,” he said. But when he worked with the colonoscope inside the child, he found the growth was much larger, 6cms in diameter. “I have never seen such a large polyp before,” he said.
                         
A colonoscope is a long, flexible tube with a fibreoptic camera at the end and inserted inside through the colon. It makes it easier for a doctor to visualise the whole 3 to 5 foot long intestine. A snare is also attached to the end to remove growths. “You can attach small instruments to snare, cut, coagulate,” said Dr Saleh.  
                
The 6-cm polyp was big even for the colonoscope snare used for adults, he said. The doctor then had to painstakingly cut the polyp into three pieces and snare and pull each piece out. “It took an hour,” he said. Usually such a procedure takes 10 minutes for smaller growths.
                         
The child was able to go home the same day. “She’s back to a normal life,” he said. A regular surgery would have meant that the child would have to spend a week at the hospital for recovery.
                         
The mother said she was overjoyed when the doctor came out and said, “She’s fine. We are done. We were planning to go home to our country,” she said, when doctors suggested an operation.
                         
The doctor said this growth, known as juvenile polyp, occurs in children between the ages of two and seven. “It is usually not cancerous, but has to be removed to stop bleeding. We do not know why it occurs. But the good thing is that once it is removed it will not grow again.”

SOCIETY - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Happy to be in Dubai

Lily B. Libo-on / 12 June 2012

Happiness is on a high in Dubai. A new survey released on Monday said the happiness average in the emirate is 7.9 on a scale of one-to-10.

The study was conducted by the Community Development Authority (CDA) in cooperation with the Dubai Statistics Center.
It said the happiness average among Emiratis was 8.3, and for Western expatriates it was eight. Arab expatriates scored 7.9 and Asian expatriates 7.8.

People are enjoying the performance of artist’s at the opening ceremony of the Dubai sopping festival at creek park in Dubai. - KT photo by M.sajjad

It also indicated 93% of Dubai community felt secure and protected. Among Emirati families this figure was about 96% and expatriate families almost 89%.
The study covering social cohesion said that the highest satisfaction percentage of families was among Europeans at 97.7%, followed by Arab families 97.3%, Asian families 96.9% and Emirati families 93.6%.
It appeared the highest percentage of cultural diversification in Dubai was among Arab expatriates at 81.7%, followed by European families 81.1%, Asian families 77.3% and Emirati families 65.9%.
When it came to human rights, the study found that 95% of Dubai population felt secure in their financial resources to meet their food requirements, and that only 17.5% of non-Emiratis did not agree that human rights were not protected in Dubai.
A whopping 93% of Dubai residents are proud of their city and almost 80% are proud of Emirati culture while 57% were proud of the Arab language.
Some 88.7 per cent of the employees residing in the labour accommodations felt they are protected for arbitrary work practices in Dubai.
The study conducted to measure the current levels of key performance indicators for its five-year strategy (2010-2014), is designed to strengthen community service standards in Dubai. It covered 19,924 individuals; 3,995 families, 1,992 Emirati families, 1,701 expatriate families, 302 grouped families and 500 individuals from labour communities.
Khaled Al Kamda, Director-General of CDA, said the study reflects CDA’s keenness to enhance social services in Dubai according to Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. “The study is a path-breaking initiative that helps decision-makers and public and private sectors to design policies and plans through an accurate database.”
“We are keen to enhance cooperation with strategic partners and co-launch promising initiatives and programmes that are useful for the community, and Dubai Statistic Center, one of our distinguished partners, played an active role in conducting this study,” Al Kamda said.
According to the study, some 80 per cent of Emiratis have conservative consumption attitude but they also top the list of bank borrowers, 14.7 per cent of which are defaulters. They are followed by Westerners, 15.5 per cent of which 5.1 are defaulters, Arab expats 13.4 per cent of which 2.1 per cent are defaulters, and Asian expats, 10.1 per cent of which 3.7 per cent are defaulters.
Of those surveyed, 13 per cent of them do not agree that there is freedom to exercise religious rites in Dubai, 16 per cent do not agree that everyone receives equal treatment by the police, 19.6 per cent believe that there is no equal treatment by judicial authorities, 22.6 per cent say they have no access to health facilities, 23 per cent feel there is discrimination in the treatment of people with disabilities, 24 per cent believe that there is discrimination in society based on gender (male and female) and 26.4 per cent say that low-skilled workers are not treated well in society.