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Launched in 2019, Malaffi is the first health information exchange (HIE) platform in the Middle East and North Africa region. It safely and securely connects public and private healthcare providers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Malaffi allows for meaningful, real-time exchange of patient health information between the providers, establishing a centralized database of unified patient records, thus improving healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Now that the foundation has been firmly established by collating 99% of all patient episodes in the Emirate, Malaffi is implementing tools to support population health. Recently these activities were focused on COVID-19 response. In the future, these population health services will offer insights to improve care delivery. This case study demonstrates the HIE status in the UAE and focuses on the establishment of Malaffi in Abu Dhabi. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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This study investigates the main financial technologies adopted by banks to improve their financial performance. The study population consists of commercial banks listed on the Amman Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and includes financial information and data from 2012 to 2020. A total of 115 questionnaires, consisting of five questionnaires for each bank, were distributed to the study population in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The dependent variable is financial performance, while the independent variable is financial technology (FinTech). Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results showed that FinTech has a positive effect on both total deposit and net profits. This study recommends that banks be encouraged to adopt inclusive strategies to attain sustainable development.
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PurposeThis paper explores medical tourism development challenges in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pre- and during Covid-19. Medical tourism is becoming a dynamic, rapid growth area and an engine of economic development.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews were conducted with medical tourism professionals. Fourteen medical tourism stakeholders were interviewed from 1 January to 31 January 2020. Qualitative thematic analysis was applied on medical tourism challenges before and during the pandemic.FindingsThe major themes indicated concerns for medical tourism in the UAE and they included higher medical services costs and a shortage of highly qualified medical expertise. The emerging themes related to the challenges of coping with Covid-19 and strategies to attract medical tourists.Originality/valueThis study contributes towards (1) the theory of medical tourism, (2) the related limited prior published work on this topic relating to the UAE and (3) the importance of medical tourism in today's tourism industry. Additionally, there are theoretical and practical implications for medical tourism stakeholders in terms of attracting inbound medical tourists to the UAE from other countries during the Covid-19 crisis and in the post-pandemic situation.
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Does working time affect workers' wellbeing? We studied this question in the context of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, drawing on the results its Quality-of-Life Survey conducted in 2019/2020. The empirical analysis examined the effect of working hours on various elements of wellbeing. Preliminary analysis and path analysis justified the significance of eight variables: work-life balance, frequency of meeting with friends, happiness, stress, time spent with family, self-assessment of health, satisfaction with income, and difficulty in fulfilling family responsibilities. The model became significantly less efficient when including variables such as job satisfaction, job security, time spent in sport, sleeping and leisure. The implications were discussed in the light of international research literature and post-COVID workplace arrangements and flexibilities. © 2022 Department of Community Development
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PurposeTourism in the Middle East is distinct and diverse, as are its associated challenges. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various opportunities and constraints facing the Middle East region in developing and promoting its tourism.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis of the current literature was conducted, and industry white papers and government portals were consulted to identify the historical relevance, current proceedings and future scope of tourism in the Middle East.FindingsGiven the diverse attractions, history, heritage and cuisine, the scope and potential to develop tourism in the Middle East region is enormous. However, political turmoil in the past and its stereotypical image emerged as the major constraints. Acknowledging the significance of the tourism sector, the governments of the region are trying hard to improve international arrivals and revenues.Originality/valueDespite a steep growth in international arrivals, tourism in the Middle East has not been adequately addressed in academia. This paper highlights the region's tourism-related background, issues and constraints, thus, addressing a critical gap in the literature.
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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed neighborhood parks as a key asset in mitigating the negative implications of extended lockdowns, when parks turned into a sanctuary for residents. With increased scholarly work focusing on developing pots-pandemic neighborhoods, providing access to community parks via efficient routes, is central to such debate. Network connectivity provides a comprehensive assessment of the efficiency of network systems. Methods: A total of 16 samples, from the city of Abu-Dhabi, have been selected to study their network connectivity, with regard to accessing parks. Three distance-based connectivity measures are used: the pedestrian route directness (PRD), the count of redundant routes Redundancy Count (RC), and the route redundancy index (RI). The samples reflect different street's typologies and their urban form attributes are quantified. Results and Discussion: Connectivity analyses results are interrupted with regard to the quantified physical attributes. Findings indicate that gridded, and semi-gridded layouts provide more direct routes to parks, but less route's redundancy. Conversely, interlocked, and fragmented networks, when having sufficient intersection densities, have less direct routes but more redundancy. The inclusion of alleyways proved to alter typologies into gridded ones and improve both route directness and redundancy. The majority of the selected samples reported sufficient levels of route directness. The current design and planning guidelines, implemented by the Department of Transport and Municipalities are overly descriptive with regard to how neighborhood parks are accessed;therefore, the study's methodology provides a possible more evidence-based approach to policy development. Copyright © 2023 Alkhaja, Alawadi and Ibrahim.
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BACKGROUND: Psychological disorders are common in patients who experienced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Thus, there is a need to assess the prevalence of these disorders following vaccination, particularly in non-hospitalized cases as most COVID-19 patients do not require hospitalization. The presence of specific chronic medical disease has been displayed to increase the severity of infection and may also cause negative psychological outcomes in these patients. AIM: This study aimed to measure the prevalence of depression in COVID-19-positive non-hospitalized vaccinated patients during isolation and to detect the difference in depression between patients with and without medical diseases within the study. METHOD(S): This was a cross-sectional study of a sample of patients from Abu Dhabi. A total of 194 participants were enrolled. All of them were COVID-19 vaccinated and tested positive for COVID-19. Participants were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9). RESULT(S): Depression was present in 10.8% of COVID-19 positive vaccinated patients while 89.2% had no depression according to their PHQ9 scores. A total of 18.5% of patients with chronic medical diseases had depression while 9.6% of patients without chronic medical diseases showed depression with no statistical significant difference in prevalence of depression between these two groups. CONCLUSION(S): The prevalence of depression was relatively low in this study compared to previous studies. No significant difference was found in the likelihood of developing depression between patients with and without chronic medical diseases. Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the effect of vaccines on mental health. Copyright © 2022 Somaya Shaheen, Shaden Adel, Noha A. Mahfouz.
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The COVID-19 pandemic posed a real challenge to business continuity of our safety assurance programs, incident investigations and training of young engineers which are traditionally conducted through physical rig site visits. The measures taken to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus meant that physical visits to the rig sites were restricted and during certain times completely stopped. The consequence of such measure meant that the safety assurance program was heavily impacted as the weekly leadership site visits were suspended. This posed a risk of a potential increase in safety incidents. Moreover, only safety critical personnel were allowed at the rig sites meaning that all trainee drilling supervisors and engineers were not allowed to visit the rig sites as part of the COVID-19 control measures. This in turn directly impacted the training program of our young engineers and trainee drilling supervisors for the entire COVID-19 pandemic period - Not Good! The potential risk of an increase in safety incidents due to lack of safety assurance was too great a cost to accept. Therefore, the drilling team started to think differently. A multi-disciplinary brainstorming workshop involving technology providers in the digital space was conducted to discuss possible ways of conducting rig site visit virtually. During this workshop, augmented reality via use of the wearable camera was flagged as a technology ready solution for our challenge. Several subsequent sessions were conducted with ADNOC Onshore IT team to build a business case for the wearable camera. The wearable camera is an intrinsically safe Zone 1 certified fully rugged head-mounted device made for harsh environments. The high-resolution micro display fits just below the user's line of sight and views like a 7" tablet. A business case was put forward and approved to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) to specifically test the ability to conduct remote rig visits, investigations and training programs. The PoC was successfully completed and allowed the team to conduct remote rig visits, audits, investigations and training programs with the "touch and feel" of being at the rig site - a paradigm shift in the way we run our business. Copyright © 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers.
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During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems around the world have had their limited surge capacity rapidly overwhelmed. In such a situation, pandemic risk reduction necessitates the employment of one or more alternative care sites (ACSs). This paper aims to investigate the siting of deployable field hospitals to reduce pandemic risk and support the staff involved in direct patient care. The present study used multiple case studies of space conversions and field hospitals in several countries. Informed by the existing literature, these cases shed light on their healthcare system responses to COVID-19 and allowed for a comparative analysis. Based on the case studies, the authors propose two ACSs in Abu Dhabi City: one in an urban setting and another in a suburban area. The authors identified expansive spaces and adaptable buildings according to a set of primary criteria, including the required level of structural alterations, budget, and time. The selected sites/buildings could be transformed into field hospitals to respond to the pandemic and/or disaster risk reduction whilst boosting critical care surge capacity. Devising such measures in siting field hospitals as ACSs would eventually enable Abu Dhabi’s (and the United Arab Emirates’) healthcare system and institutions to become more resilient in adequately responding to unprecedented demand and/or sudden disruptions to healthcare operations in the future © This open access article is published under a Creative Commons [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International] license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on people all over the world, posing health, economic, and social threats to the entire human population. As a part of preventive measures, at the end of March 2020 the UAE promulgated various lockdown measures to reduce the risk of the pandemic, which have a major impact on its local air quality levels. This research investigates the effect of the lockdown measures on the levels of the air pollutants like NO2 and PM2.5in Abu Dhabi Emirate using air quality stations data for the months of March and April 2020. Overall, NO2 levels have fallen dramatically by a range of 19% to 60% across all land use areas within the Emirate. Conversely, PM2.5 levels varied during the lockdown in April 2020, with increases ranging from 31% to 65% in rural and suburban industrial areas and decreases ranging from 2% to 33% in urban and suburban population areas. It can be observed that the lockdown measures had a huge impact on the NO2 levels due to reduced transportation and human activities while PM2.5 levels displayed great variability. The statistical analysis shows a significant moderate positive relationship (rs 0.476) at 0.05 level between NO2 and traffic volume crossing Musaffah Bridge. © 2021 Geo Publishing, Toronto Canada.
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Background: In the challenging times of Covid 19, anxiety increased among the general population. Fibromyalgia patients are more at risk of developing anxiety in these difficult times. This might result in more frequent visits to the rheumatology clinics with an exacerbation of their chronic pain syndrome. Objectives: The main objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of FM in the rheumatology outpatients' clinics during the Covid 19 lockdown period (2020) and during the same period in the previous year (2019). Methods: A cross-sectional study is conducted through 5 rheumatology clinics located in the 3 biggest emirates of the country (3 in Dubai, 1 in Abu Dhabi and 1 in Sharjah) to detect the number and charachteristics of fbromyalgia from March 15 to May 15th2019, and March 15 to May 15th2020. Results: Total number of patients seen from march to May 2019 was 3480 out of them 55 were fbromyalgia patients with frequency 0.0158%. While from march to May 2020 total number of patients seen were 1355 out of them 66 were fbromy-algia patients with frequency 0.0487%. Figure 1 Descriptive analysis of fibromyalgia patients seen in the lockdown time March to May 2020 shows that;gender was 64 females 97%, 2 males 3%, profession 36 unemployed 54.5%, 28 white collar 42.4%, 2 blue collar 3%, Age minimum was 25 years, maximum 77 years, with mean 48.3±13 years. Table 1 Tender points were 15.7±3, VAS for pain 6.5±2.1, sleep disturbance was present in 47 patients 71.2%, fatigue 65 patients 98.5%, irritable bowel syndrome in 26 patients 39.4%, headache in 32 patients 48.5%, anxiety in 43 patients 65.2%, and Depression in 37 patients 56.1 %. Comparing frequencies of fbromyalgia between March to May 2019 and 2020 shows a signifcantly higher frequency of fbromyalgia in March to May 2020, 3.1-fold more than 2019. Conclusion: The prevalence of patients with fbromyalgia seen in the Rheumatology clinics signifcantly increased during the lockdown time in comparison to the same period of 2019.
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Objective: The pandemic has forced closures of primary schools, resulting in loss of learning time on a global scale. In addition to face coverings, social distancing, and hand hygiene, an efficient testing method is important to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in schools. We evaluated the feasibility of a saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction testing program among 18 primary schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Qualitative results show that children 4 to 5 years old had difficulty producing an adequate saliva specimen compared to those 6 to 12 years old. Methods: A short training video on saliva collection beforehand helps demystify the process for students and parents alike. Informed consent was challenging yet should be done beforehand by school health nurses or other medical professionals to reassure parents and maximize participation. Results: Telephone interviews with school administrators resulted in an 83% response rate. Overall, 93% of school administrators had a positive experience with saliva testing and felt the program improved the safety of their schools. The ongoing use of saliva testing for SARS-CoV-2 was supported by 73% of respondents. Conclusion: On-campus saliva testing is a feasible option for primary schools to screen for COVID-19 in their student population to help keep their campuses safe and open for learning.
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Résumé: Cet article a cherché à déterminer dans quelle mesure les droits légitimes des utilisateurs sont sauvegardés dans les plateformes de gestion de l'apprentissage (LMS) et, plus précisément, dans la plateforme Blackboard utilisée pour l'enseignement à l'Université Sorbonne, Abu Dhabi (SUAD). Tout d'abord, les droits légitimes des utilisateurs qui doivent être protégés ont été identifiés. Ensuite, les garanties de sécurité et de confidentialité offertes par Blackboard ont été évaluées. Enfin, les lacunes politiques et les déficiences technologiques qui compromettent la protection des droits légitimes des utilisateurs ont été identifiées. L'étude a été réalisée selon une approche qualitative d'étude de cas. Les données ont été recueillies par le biais d'une analyse de contenu, d'un examen des documents et d'entretiens. La recherche a révélé que, dans une large mesure, la plateforme Blackboard protège la plupart des droits légitimes des utilisateurs. Cependant, la plateforme ne donne pas d'indication concernant certains droits légitimes, tels que la limitation du stockage et les accords de partage des données. En outre, des informations ont révélé que les pratiques de Blackboard en matière de confidentialité sont largement influencées par les établissements d'enseignement qui utilisent ses produits. L'étude a conclu que la sauvegarde des droits légitimes des utilisateurs est une responsabilité collective entre les fournisseurs de services de gestion de l'apprentissage et les établissements d'enseignement. Il est donc nécessaire que les établissements d'enseignement qui utilisent Blackboard et d'autres plateformes de gestion de l'apprentissage élaborent de solides régimes de protection des données.Alternate :This paper sought to establish the extent to which users' legitimate rights are safeguarded in Learning Management Systems (LMS);specifically, on the Blackboard system used for teaching at Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi (SUAD). First, the users' legitimate rights that required protection were identified. Second, the security and privacy guarantees afforded by Blackboard were assessed. Finally, policy gaps and technological deficiencies that undermine the protection of users' legitimate rights were identified. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study research design. Data was collected through content analysis, document review and interviews. The research revealed that to a large extent the Blackboard LMS safeguarded most of the users' legitimate rights. However, the system is silent on some legitimate rights, such as storage limitation and data sharing arrangements. Further, information emerged that revealed Blackboard's privacy practices are largely informed by educational institutions using its products. The study concluded that safeguarding user's legitimate rights is a collective responsibility between the learning management services providers and the educational institutions. As such, there is need for educational institutions using Blackboard and other learning management systems to craft robust data protection regimes.
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As disagreements rage about the source of the Covid-19 virus, one universal consensus has been established. It is that humanitys surest guarantee to curbing and mitigating the deadly pandemic is the discovery and wide administration of a vaccine to prevent infection, serious illnesses, and hospitalizations etc. As different countries grapple to roll out the covid vaccine, the world is confronted by another virus that could prove to undermine efforts at curbing Covid-19. Vaccine misinformation is playing into the hands of anti-vaccine groups who are taking advantage of social media platforms that are easily accessible and devoid of editorial gatekeeping to propagate often unfounded rumors about vaccine efficacy and safety. As a result, today, vaccine hesitancy is undermining the efforts put in place to fight the virus. Despite this, today the UAE is among the top three countries in the world with the highest vaccinated population. This paper attempts to provide insight into the uptake of Covid vaccine among Emirati women. The paper assumes that the decision to take covid vaccine or not is, among others, a product of information and perception. Given the centrality of social media as a source of information to most people in the UAE, we inquire into its role in shaping perceptions and attitudes on the covid vaccine among Emirati women. Our findings reveal that over 84% of respondents are vaccinated and factors that account for such vaccine uptake among Emirati women are both general and specific and center around communication and government policy. The paper concludes that contrary to established stereotypical images of Middle Eastern, Arab, Muslim women as passive and laid back, the attitude of Emirati women towards the vaccine brings to fore the role of women in social change thereby challenging established stereotypes.
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As the world grapples with the appropriate response against the COVID-19 pandemic with mixed results, a new opportunity for soft power influence in the form of COVID diplomacy has emerged. Countries such as the UAE that have embraced soft power as a foreign policy tool and have done relatively better in combating the pandemic have seized the initiative to provide bilateral and multilateral support in the form of COVID-19 related aid to struggling countries and international agencies, dubbed COVID-diplomacy. The UAE can engage in COVID diplomacy due to the following internal attractions: a long commitment to humanitarianism, a resilient economy, a well-managed COVID-19 response strategy, a national soft power strategy, a strong health care system, and logistical capacity. Bilaterally, UAE's COVID contributions are as follows: provision of medical supplies and health personnel to needy countries, acceptance of critically ill COVID patients, and direct economic assistance to countries whose economies have been adversely impacted by the pandemic. Multilaterally, the UAE has made major financial and medical supply donations to the WHO and other international aid agencies and serve as a transportation and logistical hub for the distribution of vaccines and medical supplies. The success of COVID diplomacy in the global fight against the pandemic will offer a template for bilateral and multilateral response towards future pandemics. Furthermore, it will create more opportunities for countries desirous of burnishing their soft power credentials via international humanitarian assistance.
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Using a qualitative methodology of personal interviews and participant observation, this research investigates the role of Emirati women in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent impact/challenges. Research participants included female Emirati health care workers and educationists. We observed Emirati families to help better understand the challenges women went through during the pandemic. Contrary to existing narratives about the invisibility, docility, marginalization, victimhood, and dependency of Arab women, this research reveals that Emirati women were able to exercise agency in the fight against the pandemic due to the following factors: longstanding government empowerment of women, a sense of patriotism, supportive male relatives, and female dominance in the health and educational sectors. During the pandemic, Emirati women have contributed in the following ways as: volunteers;international aid workers;care givers;health information agents;and virtual teachers. Despite this, challenges abound because of the following: increased family conflict;domestic violence;the psychological toll of Covid-related deaths;economic challenges;and increased domestic responsibilities. The Emirati women's case provides lessons for policy makers and societies desirous of women's empowerment.
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This paper is introduced to explore higher education institutions' practices and contents in the Facebook platform in Abu Dhabi during the early period of Covid-19 to gain insights into how and why they are utilizing these platforms. It helps in identifying internal opportunities for improving the development of digital content. The paper extracted four academic parameters that shed the light on the content of messages created by public and private universities which were: Promoting online teaching, promoting students service and support, promoting positive vibes, and promoting Covid-19 issues. Promoting positive vibes represents the highest number of posts especially for private universities. © 2021 IEEE.
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This study focused on older adults (60+ years old) of both genders in Abu Dhabi during the COVID-19 pandemic before vaccines were made available (age ranged from 60 years to 75 years). They faced more strict rules of movement restriction and isolation that might have resulted in certain psychological feelings and social reactions. The main objective was to understand Abu Dhabi older adults' psychological feelings during the pandemic and to identify their main concerns and challenges considering the various COVID-19-related policies and restrictions. The psychological feelings focused on fear, loneliness, sadness, irritability, emotional exhaustion, depressive symptoms, sleeping disorders, overeating, and excessive screen use. The objectives also included the changes in the psychological feelings concerning time. Other objectives covered better understanding the differences in (some activities) compared to the other age categories. Data were gathered through an online survey of community members from February to July 2020 as part of government initiatives (Department of Community Development). Responses were collected from 574 older adults in Abu Dhabi (60.1% male and 39.9% female). The analysis mainly used descriptive analysis, t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and simple trend analysis. For all tests, a p-value less than 0.05 was used for significance. The results pointed to the significant rise in feelings related to excessive screen use, fear, loneliness, and stress. The most significant concerns were related to more restrictions being imposed and not being able to see the grandchildren.The impact of new technologies on their quality of life was significantly reflected by respondents. The influence of the pandemic on older adults' health and weight was also investigated. Analysis of variance, t-tests, and regression analysis with relevant tests were employed. The relevant results showed that some negative psychological feelings were common among older adults during the pandemic. However, the psychological feelings did not portray significant changes with time, except for sleeping disorders and overeating. Overall, older adults scored significantly different from other age groups on many challenges, concerns, and views regarding new technologies during the pandemic. No significant differences were observed regarding gender and marital status for the challenges and concerns. The research summarizes some policy guidance while noting some limitations of this study and future research directions.