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Shaikh Khalifa congratulates nation on top efficiency rank
Shaikh Khalifa congratulates nation on top efficiency rank (Wam) / 31 May 2013 The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, praised the efforts of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Their Highnesses Members of the Supreme Council and Rulers of the Emirates and the people of UAE for achieving top ranking in government efficiency and social cohesion. The UAE is reaping the rewards of empowerment by achieving global recognition thanks to its wise vision and policies, government excellence, and the efforts of UAE citizens, Shaikh Khalifa said, commenting on the UAE No 1 ranking top in Global Competitiveness Handbook 2013 issued by International Institute of Management Development in Switzerland. “On this day, we remember with great appreciation the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his brothers, the founding fathers of the UAE. We all feel that the seeds sown by our founding fathers, and cared for by their sons and grandchildren, have helped realise this remarkable achievement,” Shaikh Khalifa said. Shaikh Khalifa described the international recognition the UAE had received as a testimony to the leadership capabilities of Vice -President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who is credited with stimulating national energies and developing government performance and practices to the highest international standards. “We salute Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his government team on both local and federal levels for the achievements made and for the motivation they provided to the masses inside and outside the UAE. They have proven that the welfare of the citizens of the country is the government’s ultimate goal. The achievement made by the UAE in social cohesion is yet another example that we are on the right track on building the future.” Shaikh Khalifa went on to say: “what has been achieved so far is not a coincidence. It is an outcome of a solid foundation, a fruit of shura, justice, rule of law and savvy economic plans. It is a culmination of empowering people, family values, openess to the wold and balanced foreign relations.” He concluded by saying that maintaining such achievements require protection and elavation of national identity, the value of work, the sense of participation, the empowerment of women and youth, developing education, technology and abilities and maintaining strong military and security capabilities to defend the nation’s achievements. Continue reading
Cancer Awareness: Young voice, vital message
Cancer Awareness: Young voice, vital message Kelly Clarke / 31 May 2013 With the Middle East carrying one of the world’s highest incidence rates of breast cancer in women under the age of 40, one Dubai-born student wants to spread an important message to the women of the UAE: “Early detection can save lives.” Kelly Clarke speaks to nine-year-old Aaditya Singh who is spreading a message on breast cancer and hopes to meet Shaikh Mohammed to request for a free or subsidised cancer screening programme for women A Dubai-based student is intent on spreading cancer awareness in the UAE. Aaditya Singh’s message is loud and clear. “Early detection of breast cancer can save lives,” says the nine-year-old. The Dubai-born student has been actively involved in a number of social and environmental awareness campaigns over the past few years and he is intent on pushing for greater openness about the illness in the UAE. “He knows more about breast cancer than an average child his age or even older,” says his mother Veenu Kanwar. At the age of seven, after his close friend lost his mother to the disease, Aaditya’s curiosity about cancer was apparent. ‘I thought only old people are supposed to die. Does that mean that you can also get cancer and die?’ was the question he asked his mother. It was difficult for Aaditya to comprehend that someone in their 30s or 40s could die from this thing called ‘cancer’, which is where his drive to “make a difference” came from. Appreciation for life was something instilled in Aaditya from a young age. “As a mother, one thing I want from my kids is for them to respect what they have and to give what they can,” says Kanwar. She said raising a generation with the right values is the key base to securing a successful future for each individual and she accredits a lot of Aaditya’s awareness work to his teachers. “I am thankful that Aaditya’s school, the Delhi Private School, Sharjah, includes social and environmental awareness as a significant and integral part of the curriculum. This really helps inculcate the right attitude in children as they grow.” From poster campaigns to interpretative dance, Aaditya has been proactive in spreading awareness in the UAE for over two years. And following the recent publicity on prophylactic mastectomies — the removal of healthy breasts without prior breast cancer diagnosis — he says he is “appalled, but not surprised to see how fear can make so many women take such drastic steps.” After losing a grandmother, he never got to meet, to the disease, he has made his mother gift him one thing on his birthday every year — get a mammogram done — and on her birthday each year, she gets a health check done. “Till about an year ago, he used to knock on the bathroom door while I showered to ask if I found any cancer in my body (that was his idea of self examination).” According to Breast Cancer Statistics Worldwide, about 1 in 8 women in the developed world are at risk of getting breast cancer, but early detection can offer a 95 per cent chance of survival. Although Dubai has been the centre of improved progress with regards to cancer awareness, regular screening is still not a common way of life due to several factors including cost implications and social/cultural reasons. With the oncology sector more advanced in the West, the Journal of Oncology says breast cancer in the Arab world is the most common cancer among Arabic women and affects younger women than their counterparts in industrialised nations. The Middle East has a significantly higher incidence of breast cancer in women under the age of 40, with 80 per cent of cases found at an advanced stage. Aaditya’s work Aaditya has been passionately involved with the ‘Protect Your Mom Campaign’ (PYM) — a unique Dubai based, zero-cost campaign that relies on the creative abilities and pestering power of students, and the reach of social networking to reiterate the importance of early detection. “I am too young to know a lot, but old enough to understand that breast cancer can be deadly … the best chance that anyone has against it is through early detection.” Last year, Aaditya entered a yearly contest, initiated by PYM, wherein they invite creative entries from students to raise awareness. Feeling that his words were not being taken seriously, Aaditya’s face appeared on the video-sharing site Youtube in a bid to spread his message globally. “When an eight-year-old talks about breast cancer, no one pays attention so I am trying to convey my message through dance.” This was the introductory message on Aaditya’s dance video. He spent many hours planning the dance routine, and weaved meaningful songs in Arabic, Hindi and English into his story, so that he could reach out to as many people as possible. And his efforts paid off as the then eight-year-old was crowned winner of the PYM Design & Win Contest – pipping a number of high-school and university students to the post. Aaditya was gifted two airline tickets to India but the selfless nine-year-old isn’t planning on jet-setting back to his family’s home country for a summer holiday. Well aware that cancer care is costly in this part of the world and that many patients travel to India for treatment, Aaditya hopes he can offer these patients a break from everyday life — including trips for radiation and chemotherapy treatment — by giving them something positive to look forward to. Currently in talks with two cancer patients, and awaiting approval from the airlines, he says winning the contest “will be more worthwhile” if they can travel in his place. Aaditya hopes one day of meeting His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to request for a free or subsidised cancer screening programme for women, just like the child immunisation programme recently implemented. He says easy and cost effective access to preventive screening, at reliable government medical centres, will encourage more women to come forward to get themselves screened. “I hope the health authorities will consider my request to give all mothers in the UAE a fair chance at beating breast cancer.” kelly@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Social media, a habit for youngsters
Social media, a habit for youngsters Sarah Young (sarah@khaleejtimes.com) / 30 May 2013 A revealing research by a Zayed University student shows that Instagram is the frontrunner among young Emiratis with Twitter and Facebook trying to play catch-up Shopping, celebrities and “life lessons” are the topics of conversation for Emirati children as young as seven, says a Zayed University student who has done some revealing research into the social media habits of young nationals. Hessah Ahmed Hareb, a Masters student and teaching assistant in the Integrated Strategic Communications department at Zayed University in Dubai, surveyed 115 girls, aged between seven and 12, from two Dubai-based private schools, and found social media usage was surprisingly high. Presenting the results of her undergraduate pilot research, ‘Social Media Tweens’, to a Middle East Public Relations Association (Mepra) conference in February, she showed about 80 per cent of the girls were using Instagram, 68 per cent used Twitter and 56 per cent had a Facebook account. She also analysed the content of 10 Instagram and 25 Twitter accounts, for both male and female children. Half of all Instagram posts were about shopping, she said. “There were pictures of dresses, earrings, rings (and the words) ‘are you loving my rings?’, shopping bags.” Landscapes from Dubai and further abroad made up about a quarter of pictures, followed by snaps of their younger brothers and sisters on 15 per cent, and food on eight per cent. Meanwhile on Twitter, they were tweeting about what they were doing, games they were playing, uploading photos of themselves, or chatting with friends. Others were also posting about causes, including one girl who put up a picture about a breast cancer marathon and asked: ‘who’s going to walk with me?’ “The things that interest kids are different than kids before. They’re interested in volunteer work and things like that.” Celebrities also featured highly. “They’re definitely the Justin Beiber generation, and Kim Kardashian is also pretty popular. “They know more celebrities than me. “I was really amazed with how they’re into television shows, when they’re very young. When I asked them why they used (social media), they said keeping up with celebrities, fashion, art, hairstyles and pictures…Some said to catch up on the political news, some said to put up my baby pictures or make jokes.” What was also surprising was they way they tweeted and talked like adults, she said. “It’s just the way they talk and put things together on social media makes them seem older than they are…which opens up risk, possibly.” The number of posts each child made on Instagram weekly ranged from two to 34, with an average of two to four pictures a day, “which was still quite a lot”. More than a third tweeted in English, another 35 per cent used a mix of English and Arabic, and just six per cent used only Arabic. More than half used unrealistic, or fake, names, such as “KimKardashianFan”. Most ‘liked’ an average of 52 posts weekly, although one girl gave out 134 ‘likes’ in one week. “So they’re busy…they have many distractions. It would be interesting to see the correlation between the amount of use and their grades.” Most children had about 52 followers, people who could automatically see what they were posting, she said. “And they may not know them, so I find it very risky sometimes. Some of the students say my mother doesn’t allow me to have Twitter, but I’m allowed Instagram…it’s weird to allow one but not the other. I was quite surprised by that. But there was quite some difference between parent to parent. Some children were not allowed (any social media) at all.” And when it came to how important privacy settings were, only 45 per cent said they were very important. About 20 per cent said they did not care, 11 per cent said privacy settings were not important at all and they “like(d) everyone seeing (their) profile” with the remaining percentage saying they were ‘somewhat important’. Two-thirds of all the children had mobile phones, and the majority of children used these to access their accounts, closely followed by iPads. Almost half of the girls surveyed had more than one phone — including five per cent who had three. “One girl told me it was because she needed a third one simply to go to the Wild Wadi water park, as she had to take a phone without a camera.” People had been surprised about the results, Hareb said. “When I went to a classroom and told one of the teachers what I was doing, she said ‘These kids? I don’t think they know these things (social media platforms).’ I asked how many of the children used these things. More than half raised their hands.” Hind Al Suwaidi, parent of Deira International School student, Saeed Abdullah Al Naboodah, 11, said while she thought her son spent more time on online gaming than social media platforms, she still had rules for use. “He cannot use his iPhone unless he’s done with his studies. “I don’t know how long he spends on Instagram. (But) I don’t mind — if I tell him not to use it, he will use it behind my back. I follow him and he follows me back, (so I can) keep an eye on him. “This generation — you can’t prevent them from using it. They have this curiousity…so I give him the opportunity to see what it’s all about, and there are rules and guidelines around that.” Saeed, who also has a Facebook account, said that like most of his friends, he did not use Twitter much anymore, as Instagram was better. “I post funny things and cute things, like my baby sister. She’s three.” Saeed said he posted mainly in English, and occasionally in Arabic. His favourite people to follow included YouTuber Ryan Hegel, and family members. “My cousin posts photos with life lessons, things like “if you don’t work hard, you won’t achieve anything’…they’re quite inspiring.” He also follows his uncle who posts pictures of drawings he has created. “He really inspires me to draw.” Out of his friends, he considers himself the most “addicted”. He checks it every day, and again just before he goes to sleep. However, he only posts two or three times a week, and tries to stop posting during the majority of the school year. “I just look the most, I don’t post as much. But I get more ‘likes’ than my friends because I put a lot of tags in so if people search one of those tags they will look at my picture and like it.” Hareb will present her research at an Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in Washington, US, later this year. Continue reading
