Here are some recent
editorials I wrote for The Gulf Today. (Posted for my records):
Need to talk about
mental health care
The World Mental Health
Day 2018 passed off quietly on Wednesday with not much people talking about how
important it is to share, care and seek support in these days of increasing
stress caused by technology, environment and other social issues.
A startling warning has
been issued by the "Lancet
Commission" report that mental health disorders are on the rise in every
country in the world and could cost the global economy up to $16 trillion
between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed.
The report by 28 global
specialists in psychiatry, public health and neuroscience, as well as mental
health patients and advocacy groups, has distinctly highlighted that the
growing crisis could cause lasting harm to people, communities and economies
worldwide.
The world community cannot
afford to take this lightly considering the magnitude of the challenge. Efforts
should be intensified to end the stigma that prevents people from seeking help
for their mental health.
Mental illness has also
risen dramatically worldwide in the past 25 years, partly due to societies
ageing and more children surviving into adolescence.
The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that around 300 million people worldwide have
depression and 50 million have dementia. Schizophrenia is estimated to affect
23 million people, and bipolar disorder around 60 million.
Half of all mental illness
begins by the age of 14, but most cases go undetected and untreated. In terms
of the burden of the disease among adolescents, depression is the third leading
cause. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds.
British Prime Minister
Theresa May has taken the correct step by naming a minister for suicide
prevention as part of a new push to tackle mental health issues. Incidentally,
there are more than 4,500 self-inflicted deaths every year in England, and
suicide remains the leading cause of death among men under the age of 45.
The importance of talking
as the first step towards getting help should be reinforced in the community.
As experts point out, prevention begins with being aware of and understanding
the early warning symptoms of mental illness. Parents and teachers can help
build life skills of children and adolescents to help them cope with everyday
challenges at home and at school.
The Lancet Commission
report is absolutely right in calling for a human rights-based approach to
ensure that people with mental health conditions are not denied fundamental
human rights, including access to employment, education and other core life
experiences.
Rising temperature
a mounting challenge
A landmark report by the
United Nations has issued a dire warning that time is running out to avert
climate disaster and the advice deserves to be taken very seriously as it will
affect each and every individual on planet earth — man or woman, rich or poor,
child or elderly.
Limiting global warming to
1.5°C will require far-reaching and unprecedented changes, such as ditching
coal for electricity to slash carbon emissions, as per the exhaustive
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, and leaders of the
world better wake up to reality.
The landmark Paris
Agreement adopted in December 2015 by 195 nations at the 21st Conference of the
Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change included the aim of
strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change by holding
the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above
pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to
1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Unfortunately, actions on
the ground so far do not match the pace at which the crisis is growing.
Earth's surface has
already warmed one degree Celsius — enough to lift oceans and unleash a
crescendo of deadly storms, floods and droughts — and is frighteningly on track
towards an unliveable 3C or 4C rise.
Extreme weather
conditions, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice are merely a tip
of the iceberg compared to massive damage that humans could pay as a price for
inaction.
If anyone thinks that the
problem is merely for the future generations to worry about, the thought is
futile because at current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, we could pass the
1.5C marker as early as 2030.
The report rightly seeks
huge changes in land, energy, industry, buildings, transportation and cities.
Global net emissions of carbon dioxide need to fall by 45 per cent from 2010
levels by 2030 and reach "net zero" around 2050.
The stakes are especially high for small island states, developing
nations in the tropics, and countries with densely-populated delta regions
already suffering from rising seas.
Scientists and experts
have given their verdict. Now it is the duty
of governments to act on the subject. Lethargy could prove disastrous.
The good news is that it
is possible to tackle the climate challenge and limit global warming to 1.5°C.
What is called for is global collective will and concrete action. There is
absolutely no time to waste.
A salute to
the elderly
To forget the elderly is
to ignore the wisdom of the years, once wrote Donald Laird. As the world marks
the International Day for Older Persons on Monday, the crucial contributions
being made by this hugely respectable segment of society should be recognised
and saluted.
As per United Nations
estimates, almost 700 million people are now over the age of 60. By 2050, 2
billion people, over 20 per cent of the world’s population, will be 60 or
older. With this in mind, enhanced attention to the particular needs and
challenges faced by most older people is clearly required.
It’s a collective
responsibility of those living in any country to care for the elderly.
Thankfully, countries like
the UAE leave no stone unturned to help the aged and deserve praise for doing
so.
For example, the Sharjah
Social Services Department (SSSD) is all set to launch the seventh Elderly
Services Forum 2018, to be held under the slogan, "Sharjah Age-Friendly
City,” to highlight the most prominent services and programmes of age-friendly
cities.
The SSSD has also
conducted a survey on entertainment programmes for the elderly, aiming to
achieve the department's vision of promoting a safe and secure society and
enhancing family stability.
The gesture comes in line
with the SSSD’s strategy to empower the elderly, discussing the most prominent
proposals that serve several old people.
In Dubai, the Dubai
Municipality has provided dedicated walkways for the elderly people on public
beaches. The special pathways have been built for the People of Determination
and the elderly to enable them to cross the beach and reach the sea easily.
Obaid Salem Al Zaabi,
Permanent Representative of the UAE at the United Nations, pointed out in
Geneva recently that the UAE has been paying proper attention and care to older
persons and the Ministry of Community Development is working with civil society
organisations to provide an integrated social care and inclusion system.
The country has been
undertaking additional efforts to mitigate challenges facing older persons.
Programmes are in place protecting elderly persons from social exclusion and
providing them with services, while respecting the dignity of every person.
All this is possible due
to the UAE society’s deep-rooted values of caring and love for older people.
The International Day of
Older Persons offers another opportunity to highlight the important
contributions that older people make to society.
Lend refugees
a helping hand
When people are forced to flee their homes due to war, violence or
persecution, it hits at the
core of collective human conscience and raises questions about what the
international community is doing to address the issue.
With 68.5 million people
forcibly displaced worldwide as of the start of this year and funding by
governments for refugee and other displacement situations barely matching, the
worries of United Nations officials are understandably growing.
As per a new report
released by the Donor Relations and Resource Mobilisation Service of UNHCR, the
UN Refugee Agency, based on contributions to date, it expects funding for 2018
to meet just 55 per cent of the $8.2 billion that is needed.
This compares to 56.6 per
cent in 2017 and 58 per cent in 2016. In short, donor funding is falling
increasingly behind even as the number of forcibly displaced worldwide has
grown.
The trend is certainly
worrisome as the consequences for refugees and internally displaced people in
particular are too real.
UN officials say they are
witnessing increases in malnutrition, health facilities being overcrowded,
housing and shelters becoming increasingly dilapidated, children either in
overcrowded classrooms or doing without school altogether, and growing
protection risks because of shortages of personnel to deal with unaccompanied
children or victims of sexual violence.
Six refugee and
displacement situations globally are particularly badly hit. These include
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and
Somalia.
The Sharjah International
Children’s Film Festival (SICFF 2018) organisers deserve praise for doing their
bit to raise awareness on the issue.
In seeking to raise
understanding and awareness of the refugee crisis, the sixth edition of the
Festival, organised by Funn Establishment – Sharjah Media Arts for Youth and
Children, has selected 13 short films that can inspire and provoke people to
act, and establish an understanding of what its like to be forced to leave
homes and countries, with nowhere to go.
Beginning from Oct.14
until 19, the festival audiences can anticipate films that seek to bridge the
understanding of displacement crisis.
The world community should
step up assistance and see to it that vulnerable people are not left out. The
refugee issue is a global humanitarian challenge that must be collectively
addressed due to its significant impact on global stability and peace.
The future of entire
generations of children and young people in countries affected by conflicts and
unrest are at stake.
Blood donors
are life savers
Blood transfusion saves
lives and improves health, but many patients across the world requiring
transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood. Such unavailability of
blood often leads to preventable deaths.
Blood is the most precious
gift anyone can give to another person — the gift of life.
Providing safe and
adequate blood should be an integral part of every country’s national health
care policy and infrastructure, as World Health Organisation officials suggest.
Just last week, Dubai
Health Authority’s (DHA) Dubai Blood Donation Centre underlined the importance
of blood donation, indicating that while all blood types are needed, negative
blood types are in greater demand due to their rarity.
As per Dr Mai Raouf,
Director of the Dubai Blood Donation Centre, only 0.6 per cent of the UAE
population are AB negative, 1.8 per cent are B negative, 2.4 percent are A
negative, 4 per cent are O negative. The O-positive blood types are most common
and are found in 38.6 percent of the population.
There is a continuous
demand for all blood types as blood lasts for only 42 days and, hence, donors
are always needed to come forward to replenish these stocks.
Interestingly, the Dubai
Blood Donation Centre, which has an international accreditation from the
American Association of Blood Banks since 2012, has taken a number of steps to
provide smart services that ease the customer’s journey. Among them is the
DAMMI App, which makes it easier to find the time and place to make blood
donations in Dubai.
The app allows blood
donors to answer donation eligibility questionnaire and read pre-donation
educational material through their mobile phones before they reach the donation
centre.
The Ministry of Health and
Prevention (MOHAP) provides blood donation services within the priority health
services by providing blood units and their components for hospitals in the
private and government sectors.
Dr Hussein Abdel-Rahman
Rand, Assistant Under-Secretary for Health Clinics and Centres, recently made
an interesting observation that the UAE, with the support of its wise
leadership, has become self-sufficient in safe blood, with 100 per cent of the
blood supply in the MOHAP coming from voluntary blood donations.
This has positioned the
UAE at the regional level in terms of safe blood transfusion services.
Blood donors, who help
save several lives every year whether through regular or emergency donations,
truly deserve a hearty salute.
