Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced the start of Merck Capacity Advancement Program (CAP) in diabetes education for medical undergraduates and healthcare providers, enabling them to act as diabetes ambassadors across United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The 5-year-programme will be accredited by the European Accreditation Council of Continuous Medical Education (EACCME). The classes will be taught by international and local diabetes experts.

Merck in partnership with Dubai Medical University invited all medical students to apply for “Merck Diabetes Award” 2016 with the theme of “Every Day is a Diabetes Day”.

The students were asked to submit a concept paper aiming to improve the awareness about diabetes early detection and prevention in UAE and to encourage their society, scientific community, local authorities, media and relevant stakeholders to think and act on Diabetes Every Day.

Rasha Kelej, chief social officer of Merck Healthcare said “Merck will offer a postgraduate diabetes diploma at University of South Wales to the winner of Merck Diabetes Award. The Award will be rolled out in 30 African and Asian Universities every year as part of our commitment to building diabetes capacity with the aim to create Diabetes Experts Platform in the two continents. Merck plays an important role in building healthcare capacity and improving access of quality and sustainable healthcare solutions across the globe”.

Dr Dima Abd Elmannan, clinical dean of Dubai Medical Colleges emphasized “We are happy to partners with Merck to implement their Capacity Advancement Program in UAE. This diabetes education programme will contribute towards providing guidelines and clinical practice for prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetes and its complications. It is estimated that there are almost 804,000 people over the age of 20 years with diabetes in the UAE; another 500,000 people are at the stage of pre-diabetes. The objective of this initiative is to increase the level of knowledge around diabetes for medical students who will work in the near future with patients to help them prevent, understand and control their disease”.

“In recent years, we have seen a rapid rise in type 2 diabetes across all age groups. The UAE is ranked 16th worldwide, with 19.2 per cent of the UAE population living with diabetes. These statistics indicate that the region has high risk factors for diabetes, mostly related to rising obesity rates and physical inactivity. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop accredited teaching programs and encourage people and relevant stakeholders to think and act on diabetes every day. I am sure Merck Diabetes Award will encourage our medical students to be creative in developing new strategies, policies and programs to encourage community members to think about diabetes every day,” she added.

"We’re excited about this partnership with Dubai Medical University and Emirates Diabetes Society as it allows us to successfully launch our Capacity Advancement Program in United Arab Emirates and help providing sustainable access to quality diabetes care solutions and medicines in the country,” Paolo Carli head of Middle and Near East and Egypt added.

“This global diabetes award initiative marks another step in our commitment to working with governments, academia and relevant stakeholders in building healthcare capacity with a focus on non-communicable diseases in various countries in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America,” Kelej added.

Merck CAP is a 5-year programme aiming to expand the professional capacity in developing countries in the areas of research and development, advocacy building, supply-chain integrity and efficiency, pharmacovigilance, medical education, and community awareness.

As part of the CAP, in 2015, more than 9,000 medical students in partnership with African universities such as University of Nairobi, Makerere University, Namibia University and University of Ghana, in addition to Asian universities such as Maharashtra university, India and University of Indonesia will benefit from European-accredited clinical chronic diseases management training, which is seeking to equip them with skills to better manage and prevent these diseases.

Merck is planning to target more than 25,000 students by the end of 2018 expanding to more African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries with special focus on non–communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and fertility management. The programme will also kick off initiatives on building research capacity and improving supply chain in order to improve patient safety in Africa.