DUBAI // Although people in Arab countries are living longer, chronic diseases, depression and road deaths are rising.
These were just a few of the findings in one of the most detailed health maps ever produced on the 22 countries in the Arab world.
In the report, taken from statistics over the past 20 years and revealed on Wednesday at the Arab Health Congress, experts warned that while life expectancy has increased, the rising prevalence of heart disease, diet-related risk factors and road traffic fatalities threatened the progress of the Arab world.
Dr Ali Mokdad, from the University of Washington in the United States and lead author of the study, said: “As a researcher, I see both the incredible progress being made in the health of people in the Arab world and the storm clouds on the horizon.”
Dr Mokdad, director of Middle Eastern initiatives at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the university, went on: “In 1990, premature death and disability was caused by communicable, newborn, nutritional and maternal disorders.
“If you fast forward to 2010 you see a major reduction in mortality, and we are living longer in the Arab world.”
However, health problems from non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, and musculoskeletal disorders have increased, and a worrying trend of major depressive disorders among women is a particular area for concern, he said.
In 2010 major depressive disorders were the top cause of poor health for women.
Lifestyle disorders linked to a poor diet, high blood pressure and being overweight also showed an increase, while dietary risks were the leading risk factors for death in all of the region’s high-income countries, including the UAE.
"Unfortunately our diet is getting worse and worse," said Dr Mokdad. This goes hand in hand with a sedentary lifestyle, he said.
With an increase on vehicle use, accidents on the region’s roads reflected an increasing cause of injuries and deaths in the Arab world.
In high-income countries, road accidents accounted for the second-highest causes of death, with fire-related injuries, drowning, falls, and self-harm ranking 16th, 19th, 20th and 25th respectively.
Of the 10 leading causes of health loss (combining both premature death and years lived with disability) across the Arab Health from 1990 to 2010, lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, remained the first, while ischemic heart disease, the most common type, rose to second.
Major depressive disorders rose from eighth to fifth place, and low back pain, which was not among the top causes of health loss in 1990, was ranked seventh in 2010.
The rise of non-communicable disease in the Arab world mirrors similar changes in the US, western Europe and Canada.
By 2010, a transformation in leading risk factors for disease burdens also took place, with dietary risks, high blood pressure and high body mass index moving up in the rankings to become the top three.
Dr Mokdad said he hoped lessons could be learnt from the study and the road map for health in the Arab world was desperately needed.
“We have a long way to go,” he said. “I want countries to take the data and use it for planning policies and data. We should all share lessons – both success and failures.
“Our hope is that the research will allow countries to better develop and implement programmes to maximise their recourses.”
The findings are from “The state of health in the Arab world, 1990–2010: an analysis of the burden of diseases, injuries and risk factors” and were revealed during the Big Data conference.
The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The four-day Arab Health Congress concludes on Thursday.
jbell@thenational.ae
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
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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