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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a complex category composed of five diseases and five behavioural and environmental risk factors. These are, in turn, represented by multiple constituencies and communities of expertise and interest. This fractured landscape is evidenced by and magnified through an abject lack of conferences devoted to the category of NCDs. One of the very few is the NCD Alliance Forum, most recently held in February 2020 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. With the first Forum held in 2015 and another in 2017, these events offer powerful insight into the key actors, advocacy strategies, debates and aspirations of those working in the 'NCD space'. Using the Forum as its object of research and analysis, this paper critically reflects on two persistent questions facing NCD advocates. First, how might NCDs be more like infectious diseases in cultivating a sense of urgency and action? Second, is NCD advocacy a 'movement' or a 'community' of loosely connected actors? Set against the emerging COVID-19 outbreak, which at the time of the Forum was limited to China and a handful of other countries, the Forum offered a unique opportunity to reflect upon the significant challenges facing NCD advocates across global north and south. COVID-19 only highlights how rising rates of NCDs have made global populations vulnerable to emerging infectious diseases. Yet, as the paper concludes, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage, the future of NCD advocacy and funding looks ever more fragile even as evidence of its need continues to grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the key challenges in healthcare, and effective antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) can play a vital role to control it. The aim of the current study was to assess the impact of the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology on a hospital-wide ASP. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study was conducted at Mediclinic Welcare Hospital (MWEL), Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The critical-to-quality (CTQs) data were collected pre/post interventions, including leadership support, guideline implementation, and audits. The study focused on inpatients who received antimicrobials from January 2021 to July 2022, analyzing ASP metrics (utilization, processes, and outcome measures). Results: The ASP improvements led to an 81.7% decrease in hospital's parenteral antimicrobial expenses from January 2021 to July 2022, and a 54.2% reduction in antimicrobial usage while maintaining clinical outcomes. The average defined daily dose per 100 bed-days drop of 12.5% further demonstrated this positive trend. The intervention was not accompanied by higher nosocomial infection rates, longer stays, or mortality. Additionally, intervention led to better compliance with surgical prophylaxis bundles, antimicrobial protocols, hand hygiene and other ASP CTQ metrics. Conclusions and recommendations: This study emphasized the significance of implementing the LSS methodology in addressing process variations, enhancing ASP outcomes, and reducing antimicrobial use. These findings can inform health policymakers to improve future ASP outcomes. Additionally, sustainability through continuous monitoring and ongoing education initiatives should be considered to ensure the long-term success of these improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The world is confronted by various current development challenges, including global health security and climate change. The rapid growth of these challenges warned all nations regardless of their development or geographical position. As an emerging international power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was among these nations and is viewed as a proactive key actor. Design/methodology/approach: This review was conducted as a thematic synthesis from 27 studies, reports and publications along with authors' insights. Using MS Word and Excel programs, three stages of data exploration, extraction and synthesis and analysis were applied. Data gathering, analysis and thematization and compilation. Findings: The UAE is giving significant attention to global health and climate change. Over the past 20 years, multipolicies, strategies and bodies were developed to lead the national, regional and global SDGs. Global health and climate change became the most two notable priorities on the government agenda and its strategic thinking is that both priorities can no longer be overlooked. Nationally, the UAE has made significant economic, scientific, social and health growth. Building a resilient and world-class healthcare system was one of six national priorities of the achieved UAE National Agenda 2021. Globally, UAE has proved its global health leadership by ensuring lasting and collective multilateral partnerships and collaborations that led to remarkable achievements in global health and climate change. Examples on the global scale: partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to target billions of people of the world's population and ensure they get Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) without financial hardship, the partnership between UAE and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) to fight diseases and put an end to polio. Additionally, the state's role in the COVID-19 global efforts such as vaccine development, supply chain and distribution targeted low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The UAE has shown a constant commitment to climate change mitigation and building a sustainable ecosystem by hosting global organizations, leading initiatives, supporting countries and is now organizing the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) this year. Great opportunities can be exploited to promote the country's contributions through further investment in cooperation, research and technology for better knowledge, sound policies, and innovative solutions for all regional and global health and climate change challenges. Originality/value: This review is a fresh evidence-synthesizing attempt to document the role of the UAE. This role is well placed to play an additional major role with all partners to address these pressing challenges by boosting its role, especially in the Middle East region and advancing a new regional-oriented revolutionary expanded developmental plan that centered on low-resource countries empowerment, multilateralism, intersectionality and lasting collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This study was conducted among a convenience sample of Ajman University students in UAE between February 2018 and May 2019. Methods All undergraduate and master's degree students from the 1st to 5th year of medical and non-medical colleges. The survey was carried out by distributing a pre-designed, pre-structured questionnaire to the students during lectures. The questionnaires were primarily composed of three sections: demographic characteristics, educational characteristics and sleep quality characteristics. The data were analyzed using STATA version 14.2. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between sleep characteristics, social media use and other significant risk factors. The P -values < 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results The vast majority of the study participants were social media users, and a considerable proportion suffered from poor sleep quality. A significantly increased risk of bad sleep quality and intermittent/anxious sleep patterns were observed among social media users. Conclusion Health policymakers should fully consider these factors in improving the sleep quality of university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2013, Dubai implemented the Insurance System of Advancing Health in Dubai (ISAHD) law which required mandatory health insurance for all residents of Dubai effective in 2016. This study compares the effect of the ISAHD on the utilization and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for low and high socio-economic status sub-groups. Methods: The study used the 2014 and 2018 Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS) a representative survey of Dubai stratified as: 1) Nationals; 2) Non-nationals in households; 3) Non-nationals in collective housing; and 4) Non-nationals in labor camps. The probability that each household would have expenditures was calculated, then multiplied by a weighted estimate of the average total OOP expenditure. Results: Overall Dubai's health spending rose from 12.8 billion AED (3.4 billion US $) in 2014 to 16.8 billion AED (4.6 billion US $) in 2017. Concurrently, the OOP share in total health spending in Dubai fell from 25% in 2014 to 13% in 2017. From 2014 to 2018, there were increases in the utilization of inpatient, outpatient and discretionary services for all groups except non-nationals living in camps. In 2018, nationals spent a total of 1064.65 AED, non-nationals in households spent 675.01 AED, collective households spent 82.35 AED, and labor camps spent 100.32 AED out-of-pocket per capita for healthcare expenditures. During and after the implementation of ISAHD, there was a substantial growth in the OOP expenditure per capita for nationals and non-nationals in households due to increased utilization. OOP spending did not rise for the lower-income non-National households. Conclusion: Dubai has been successful in reducing the household share of OOP expenditures by shifting the financial burden to government and employers. Emiratis and expatriate households increased their health service utilization after ISAHD but blue-collar workers did not. Remaining non-financial barriers to care for Dubai's blue-collar workers must be identified and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]