DUBAI // Breaking down barriers and eliminating the social stigma around children with special needs was the aim of a dental screening organised in Mirdif.
The Smile for Life campaign attracted 50 families and more than 50 children with special needs such as hearing problems, language delay and mild cases of Down syndrome and autism to the Kalimati Speech and Communication Centre, which opened two months ago.
While the children had their teeth checked, dentists and pupils were invited to speak with parents and therapists to discuss how they could make a clinical visit less stressful for children with disabilities.
Bedour Al Raqbani founded the Kalimati centre, a not-for-profit organisation providing speech therapies for children, after her daughter was born deaf.
“I was looking for a centre that offered quality but had a family environment, which offered support but not in a clinical environment,” she said.
“The kids who come here are not sick and don’t belong in an hospital, so we are trying to create a different type of vibe here.
“It is important to involve the families in the therapy.”
Therapy, including speech and sign language development, is offered for children with moderate special needs, some of whom are already in mainstream schools and nurseries.
The centre has a no white coat policy to help the children feel at ease.
“Just the feeling of going to a dentist or doctor can turn an adult’s stomach, so when a child with special needs visits, it can be even more traumatic for them,” Mrs Al Raqbani said.
“We don’t like it when these children are segregated from the rest of society. We are trying to change the way they are perceived as, unfortunately, there are still families who have this stigma. Society provides for them as much as anyone else.”
Check-ups were given a fun side, as dentists from Dubai Dental Clinic helped put smiles back on the children’s faces by joining in games and activities.
Kanza Dodhy lives in Ramstha, Sharjah, and regularly attends the centre with her daughter Mahnoor, 7, who has been deaf since birth.
“Before she knew sign language, Mahnoor was comfortable but there was just minimal instructions from her teacher. As the lessons have become more complex, she has had to learn sign language and immediately had a medium to be understood, and express herself.
“It is important doctors and dentists learn even the basic sign language, so they can communicate with children like Mahnoor. It puts them at ease straight away.”
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Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Tuesday March 15, v PNG at Sharjah Cricket Stadium
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Monday March 21, v Nepal at Dubai International Stadium
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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