Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, the 6th edition of the 7EmiratesRun in partnership with Al Jalila Foundation concluded in Hatta at JA Hatta Fort Hotel.

The 497 kilometer, 7-day run is held annually in honour of UAE National Day with the mission to ‘get children back on their feet’. The UAE’s only cross-country charity run aims to raise funds for life-changing surgery and post-operative medical support for children born with limb deformities through Al Jalila Foundation’s iMcan program. iMcan, mobility in Arabic, is dedicated to providing mobility through prostheses to amputees.

Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Al Olama, CEO of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “7EmiratesRun is an exceptional sporting endeavour that draws participants united in their passion for running and philanthropy. We are delighted to see the growing interest from international runners with the endurance run attracting several participants from abroad this year, including someone who has completed 1000 marathons around the world. In its sixth edition the UAE cross country run has already become a fixture in the global ultra-marathon calendar helping children back on their feet.”

Wendelin Lauxen, Founder & Director of 7EmiratesRun and Managing Director of DHCC-based German Limbtech, said: “The 7EmiratesRun course has been designed to give runners a chance to explore the beauty of the UAE on foot through its varied landscape. This year, we are excited to welcome international runners with impressive track records of ultra-running around the world. Together, we ran to spread the joy of running, promote a healthy lifestyle and raise awareness for children in need.”

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC, said: DMCC is proud to sponsor and support the 7EmiratesRun, a challenging cross country endurance race that celebrates the diversity of the UAE whilst bringing people keen to embrace an active lifestyle together with one common goal: To raise funds for children in need by providing a safe and encouraging environment. We would like to thank everyone who have supported this important cause”.

iMcan also aims to end stigma around mobility and inspire others to challenge themselves to go beyond convention and live a life of no limits. Once again amputee runner Abdulmumin Yusuf with prosthetic limbs joined the 7EmiratesRun team for 10 kilometres every day. Proving the popularity of the cross-country run, several international runners participated including acclaimed ultra-marathon runners, Rainer Koch and Klaus Neumann who recently completed 1000 marathons. A number of relay teams participated in the event including an all-women Emirati team from Dubai and a team from Germany.

The 7EmiratesRun, led by Wendelin Lauxen, commenced in Abu Dhabi on 18 November 2017 and traversed Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah concluding in Hatta, with an average of 70 kilometres covered per day.

“We are delighted to welcome the 7EmiratesRun this year and be the finishing point for the runners,” said Deborah Thomson, General Manager of JA Hatta Fort Hotel. “We have always encouraged sports and fitness here in Hatta and now it has become the perfect destination for outdoor activities and the perfect fit for athletics. We know it has been a challenge and active week for the participants for such a great cause and we are looking forward to extending our heartfelt welcome to the race participants here at JA Hatta Fort Hotel.”

To date, Al Jalila Foundation has supported more than 25 patients (including 7 children) and invested over AED 1.5 million to empower individuals through its iMcan program.

The 7EmiratesRun was endorsed by Dubai Sports Council and major sponsors included DMCC, Ottobock, German Limbtech, Dubai Healthcare City, DBAJ, Monviso Water and Hertz UAE.

Al Jalila Foundation, a global philanthropic organisation dedicated to transforming lives through medical education and research, announced it raised AED 1 million for breast cancer research and treatment during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the international health campaign held every October to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

It is estimated that one in eight women will develop breast cancer, making it the most common cancer among women. In the UAE the average age of diagnosis is 10 years younger than elsewhere in the world. The high prevalence of breast cancer in the UAE reinforces the critical need for medical research and improved treatment to combat the disease and ultimately, save lives.

During the month of October Al Jalila Foundation led a month-long community program with partners to host almost 100 pink themed activities and events.

Government and corporates organised employee wellness days which included talks by medical practitioners and survivors. Topics covered the importance of early detection, how to conduct self-examinations and the symptoms of breast cancer. Breast cancer survivors shared their personal stories reinforcing that the disease can be beaten.

The Dubai Fountain turned pink with a giant floating pink ribbon capitalising on the millions of visitors that pass through every month.  Hospitality and retail partners led pink themed initiatives and social clubs organised a series of sports events including pink runs, swims, walks and golf tournaments with proceeds dedicated to breast cancer research and treatment.

Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation: “Once again we have received overwhelming support from the community to help raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research during the month of October. It is heartening to witness the philanthropic spirit that takes over during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and our aim is continue this beyond October, 365 days a year, to ensure that we do not lose sight of our mission to fight the disease.”

More than 35 schools and universities supported Al Jalila Foundation’s breast cancer campaign with a host of creative events including bake sales, art workshops and sports days. Educational institutions have taken a lead with young people becoming the messengers of hope in raising awareness on the importance of medical research to save lives.

The month concluded with the first Brest Friends Festival, a community event at Al Barsha Pond Park, with a ‘Walk for Hope’ in solidarity with breast cancer patients and their families.  In line with the Dubai Fitness Challenge visitors to the festival were able to participate in a number of free fitness classes and sports activities to track their #Dubai30x30. The event drew hundreds of families including many breast cancer fighters and survivors proving that the UAE community supports the cause.

Dr Houriya Kazim, President and Founder of Brest Friends, commented: “We have all been affected by breast cancer in some way and it is important to bring the community together to raise awareness and give hope that the disease can be beaten. As we move away from October, I would like to remind everyone that breast cancer awareness should not be limited to one month and call on the community to keep the message alive all-year round.”

Breast cancer is one of the many healthcare programs that Al Jalila Foundation leads in its mission to advance medical treatment and research. Since inception, Al Jalila Foundation has invested approximately AED 5 million to fund seven breast cancer research studies and provide quality medical care and treatment to 24 patients in the UAE.

For more information please visit www.aljalilafoundation.ae.

Brest Friends in partnership with Al Jalila Foundation presents the first annual Brest Friends Festival, a fun filled community event in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The festival to be held on Friday, 27 October 2017 from 8am to 8pm at Al Barsha Pond Park will host a series of wellness activities, a walk for hope, food trucks, a market and various entertainment bringing residents and organisations together to support a cause that affects millions of women around the world.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an international health campaign every October to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

The Brest Friends Festival is expected to draw a crowd of over 2000 people who will take part in the health and wellness initiative with all proceeds from the event going to support patients with breast cancer and funding vital medical research in the UAE. The festival’s primary aim is to raise awareness on the importance of early detection and give hope to breast cancer patients and convey the message that that the disease can be beaten – that there is life after cancer.

It is estimated that one in eight women will develop breast cancer during their life, making it among the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.  In the UAE, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and with the average age of diagnoses 10 years younger than elsewhere in the world.

Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “With the high prevalence of breast cancer among women in the UAE, it is clear that research and improved treatment are integral to combating the disease and ultimately, saving lives. Historically there has been little medical research on breast cancer done locally. In line with Al Jalila Foundation’s mission to encourage home-grown talent and boost medical research, we have already invested almost AED 2 million towards breast cancer research since 2014. Events like the Brest Friends Festival help us spread awareness on the importance of research and enable everyone to make a contribution to the future health of the UAE.”

Brest Friends, the first breast cancer support group in the UAE, was established by Dr Houriya Kazim, the UAE’s first female surgeon, with the mission to save lives by increasing awareness of breast cancer and providing a platform where patients and survivors can learn, share experiences and offer moral and emotional support to each other which has proven to be instrumental in a woman’s healing process.

Dr Houriya Kazim, President and Founder of Brest Friends, commented: “We have all been affected by breast cancer in some way, the Brest Friends Festival is an opportunity to bring the community together to honour breast cancer patients, survivors and remember the people we have lost. It is also a day to give hope that the disease can be beaten. As the month draws to an end, I would like to remind everyone that breast cancer awareness should not be limited to the month of October and call on the community to keep the message alive all-year round. I can not emphasize enough the importance of early detection, do not wait until October to take action.”

The festival will kick off with a 1.5km walk around the park led by Emirati Fitness and Dubai Drums alongside Al Jalila Foundation and Brest Friends. The walk will be followed by wellness activities including exercise zones offering complimentary classes throughout the day like Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, spinning sessions and much more. For the kids there will be water slides, inflatables and a soft play area. Families can enjoy the food trucks, local vendors and an organic farmers market with various delicacies.

The Brest Friends Festival is supported by Links Group, Emirates NBD, Dhamani, Dubai Stars, Bee’ah, Mediclinic, Masafi, Halza, Grand Millennium Hotel and Elabelz.com.

The activities will be conducted by Fitness Partners including Switch DXB, NRG Fitness, Motion, Rebel Fitness, Dubai Yoga, KO8, Yoga Retreats, Box IQ and Emirati Fitness.

Registration for the event is AED 50 for adults and free for children under the age of 12. All proceeds from the event go to supporting breast cancer patients.

For registration and more information about the festival please visit http://brestfriendsfestival.com/

Al Jalila Foundation, a global philanthropic organisation dedicated to transforming lives through medical education and research, hosted the second MENA SEN Conference in partnership with the Dubai SEN Network. The special education needs conference brought together over 250 counsellors, educators and social workers from the UAE to exchange ideas and best practices on special education needs.  The key objective of the conference was to discuss best practice and identify SEN improvements in the UAE.

The two day conference held at Dubai Healthcare City hosted over 30 experts with a rich understanding of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) across the Middle East.  The workshops, presentations and discussions focused on current issues surrounding mental health and Special Educational Needs in the UAE including behavioural difficulties, dyslexia and anxiety.

The highlight of the conference was a session by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) about initiatives and provisions for students with special education needs and disabilities in Dubai.

Al Jalila Foundation, through the flagship program Ta’alouf, is one of the forerunners in promoting social inclusion in the UAE. Ta’alouf funds educational courses to equip parents with life-changing skills that enable them to better support their children’s individual needs and empower teachers with knowledge and skills to further broaden their understand and practice of inclusive education. Since its launch in 2013, Ta’alouf has graduated 134 teachers and 420 parents.

Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “The UAE government is making great strides in inclusiveness and our Ta’alouf program is well aligned with the National Strategy to Empower People of Determination. With this second MENA SEN Conference it is clear that this strategy is fully embraced by educators and the discussion and eagerness today to move forward is inspiring. ”

“Every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs – and education systems and programmes should be designed to take into account the wide diversity of their individual needs.”

Fatma Belrehif, CEO of Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) at Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) said, “Dubai aspires to be a fully inclusive city by 2020 and we believe inclusive education is at the heart of effective education. When we improve the quality of inclusion within our schools we improve education for all. Our aim is to encourage all schools to continue providing a safe, supportive and engaging learning environment for learners with special educational needs and disabilities.”

Dubai SEN Network, established in January 2015, has grown rapidly in a few short years to bring together more than eight hundred special educational needs coordinators, specialist teachers and learning support assistants. Their mission is to offer teachers a support network, and to bring the issue of special needs and inclusive education to the attention of policymakers. The network works closely with experts in their fields, from a range of centres and clinics, to ensure a wealth of connections and services are available across the region.

Rachel Green, Founding Member of Dubai SEN Network, said: “Special education needs are evidently becoming a focal point for policy makers and we are encouraged that our efforts to bring educators together in unity are paying off. The support that teachers receive today encouraging inclusion in classrooms is invaluable. Thanks to organisations like Al Jalila Foundation progress in this area has developed enormously over the past few years and we can see a real transformation in classrooms. We are excited to realise the outcomes from educators’ attendance at the MENA SEN Conference 2017 being put into action.”

Conference delegates had the opportunity to choose from over 20 seminars, 9 workshops. Themes covered during the 2-day programme included behavioural, social and emotional; early years; interventions; learning difficulties and the influence of English as an additional language. The conference inspired the engaging exchange of ideas and insights across a range of curricula.

The school and community exhibition featured more than 19 organisations showcasing best practices in schools as well as specialized services available in the UAE. Among the exhibitors was Enable, Desert Group’s agricultural social enterprise, which provides training opportunities and employment for individuals with special needs. Enable demonstrates the importance of post-secondary opportunities for people with special needs a critical issue as the large youth population transitions into adulthood.

The conference was sponsored by ATIC, kidsFIRST Medical Center and Maudsley Health Abu Dhabi.

Al Jalila Foundation, in partnership with The Carter Center, announced two UAE recipients of the 2017-2018 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism program. Selected from a pool of highly competitive applicants, the two Emiratis join the 21st annual class and 200 journalists who have been awarded the fellowships to date from around the world. The program is the first mental health fellowship program for journalists in the Middle East, launched in 2016 in the UAE by Al Jalila Foundation with two journalism fellows.

Her Excellency Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg, Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Member of the Board of Trustees of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “Journalists have immense power to inform, educate and influence society. Their support is essential to raise awareness and create a dialogue about mental health in the region. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that people with mental illness are not marginalized and that they receive the required support to live happy productive lives.”

Mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the world, yet sensationalized news coverage or underreporting of these issues can perpetuate myths and misconceptions and discourage people from seeking effective treatment.

“These fellows can reshape how media in the Middle East covers one of the most significant, misunderstood public health problems. Like the fellows before them, they will likely impact their colleagues and newsrooms, and become the point person in their field on mental health issues,” said former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

The Carter Center provides training, mentorship, evaluation tools, and technical assistance to Al Jalila Foundation to develop a sustainable and tailored program in the UAE.  Al Jalila Foundation manages the program in the UAE and is responsible for the selection of journalists and adapting the program to meet the needs of the Emirates.

Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “It is a huge privilege to partner with The Carter Center to continue the incredible work that former United States First Lady Rosalynn Carter has done to combat the stigma associated with mental illness. This is the second year that we have offered the mental health journalism program in the UAE and we look forward to working with the new fellows to initiate positive conversations on mental health to overcome the cycle of stigma.”

The UAE program is overseen by an Advisory Board which is chaired by Al Jalila Foundation and comprised of distinguished business professionals and experts in the field of mental health and journalism from a number of organisations including Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, Al Ansari Exchange, Al Bayan newspaper, Zayed University and the UAE Federal Government.

The Advisory Board provides guidance to develop a more informed cadre of Emirati journalists that inform the public about mental health issues. The board helps raise awareness in the community and contributes to raising the happiness index of the UAE through a selection of initiatives and campaigns for mental health.

Since the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism were established in 1996, fellows have produced more than 1500 stories, documentaries, books, and other works during and after their fellowship year. Their projects have garnered Emmy Awards, nominations for the Pulitzer Prize, and other awards.

The 2017-2018 recipients of the UAE Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism are:

Iman Ben Chaibah

CEO and Editor-in-Chief (Founder)

Sail Publishing and Sail Magazine

Dubai, UAE

Project: A study on mental health issues among UAE youth and to disseminate information on why and how to support people who suffer from mental illnesses.

Nahid Mubarak Khamis Faraj Alawani Alnaqbi

Senior Reporter

Albayan Newspaper

Sharjah, UAE

Project: Explore why the treatment of mental illnesses remains shrouded in fear and misconception in the UAE and how to reduce mental health stigma.

For more information please visit www.aljalilafoundation.ae.

Al Jalila Foundation, a global philanthropic organisation whose mission is to transform lives through medical education and research, and Monviso, Dubai’s premier Italian Alpine mineral water, have partnered in the “Take Water. Give Life” initiative to raise funds for Al Jalila Foundation’s lifesaving humanitarian work.

“Take Water. Give Life” – an original sales donation programme designed by Monviso especially and exclusively for Al Jalila Foundation – donates 1 AED to Al Jalila Foundation for every 1 liter sold by programme participants. These include participating retailers, hospitality venues, sports clubs, and includes online orders placed directly on the Monviso website. The humanitarian programme also has a sustainability aspect: Monviso will collect and recycle the empty plastic bottles from various locations, then sell the recycled plastic and donate its net returns to Al Jalila Foundation.

From 1 January 2017 to 30 June 2017, Monviso has donated the equivalent of 59,286 liters (59,286 AED in donations) to support Al Jalila Foundation’s goal to save lives. Programme adoption is growing rapidly, with 40 of organizations in 10 sectors already participating.

Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer, Al Jalila Foundation said: “‘Take Water, Give Life’ is the brainchild of Monviso and a great example of how creative partnerships and initiatives deliver sustainable charitable revenues. We encourage the community to support our partnership with Monviso as such programmes will further empower Al Jalila Foundation to achieve its mission to transform patients’ lives through medical research.”

Stefano Iorini, Monviso CEO said: “Water being a vital source of life, we wish to do something remarkable with Monviso for the years to come by partnering with Al Jalila Foundation to support their mission to save lives. We are proud to announce that the initiative has won the official endorsement of Dubai Sport Council, which is partnering with us to propose it to all sports events in Dubai and all clubs that operate under the Council’s authority.”

The initiative’s objective is to attract as many participating institutions, companies, clinics, sport academies, and individuals as possible and to turn a simple essential like water into the driver for something big and a force for doing good – to unite people around one cause.

To be in line with Dubai’s vision to be the smartest city in the world, “Take Water. Give Life” is supported by the Monviso mobile app where online orders can be placed very conveniently. If giving were made easier and integrated into people’s lifestyles, most people would be more charitable, and this is exactly what “Take Water. Give Life” does.