An article published in The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi discusses findings from a recent publication from R4HC-MENA  colleagues The Profile of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: Analyzing the NCD Burden, Research Outputs and International Research Collaboration

The amount of serious illness caused by diabetes in the UAE has dropped compared with other diseases such as cancer, new research has shown.

The findings come as authorities in the Emirates continue to encourage residents to exercise more frequently and eat more healthily.

In recent decades, rates of obesity and diabetes have soared in the Middle East and North Africa, in part due to sedentary lifestyles and poor diet.

More than one in six people in the UAE have diabetes and it is a factor in more than two-thirds of deaths of people aged under 60.

“We have seen significant increases in diabetes across the Middle East and North Africa,” said Dr Richard Sullivan, co-director of the Conflict and Health Research Group at King’s College London and one of the authors of the study.

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