RCSI Bahrain honours Palm Association and Esterad

Thanks to the generosity of the Palm Association, a local charity committed to supporting less fortunate Bahraini families and Esterad, the Kingdom's only publicly quoted investment company, 13 students were able to take their first steps towards a future in medicine and nursing and embark on their journey at RCSI Bahrain this year. As a thanks for their efforts and generous contribution, RCSI Bahrain organised a dinner for all those involved.

The sponsorship of the 13 students, 5 medical, 3 nursing and 5 masters in nursing students, is a reflection of Esterad's commitment to its strategy to help promote the importance of further education for young Bahraini's.

Subhi Ben Khadra, CEO of Esterad, commented:

"Esterad Charitable Trust is proud to be associated with this project. Whether we help create a new model for medical research or pioneer innovative ideas for further education in Bahrain, we are ultimately empowering the most talented people in each field and encouraging them to pursue their potential, thus ultimately allowing them to serve their community in the future."


Commenting on the sponsorship, a member of the Palm Association committee and a Meducation coordinator said, "You get a great feeling when you help people become more motivated and guide them to the source of their own power. The generosity of Esterad and RSCI Bahrain has been a great inspiration for us and certainly pushed us ladies to strive harder to make sure our youngsters who are serious about their medical education and who want to give back to their country, get the chance to do so."

Professor Kevin O'Malley, Foundation President of RCSI Bahrain said, "We are very fortunate to have the Palm Association's support and are very grateful for Esterad generosity. Often students wishing to continue on with further education are unable to do so due to the costs involved. Sponsorship allows those students who ordinarily may not be able to pursue the root of further education, to do so, and gain a specialist education in their career of choice. I would like to thank both Esterad and the Palm Association for their efforts and contributions."

Opened in 2004, RCSI Bahrain is a not-for-profit University whose role is to provide healthcare education and training to international standards for students from Bahrain, other GCC countries and beyond. Acredited by the Higher Education Council in Bahrain and the GCC Medical Schools Deans' Committee in February 2006, RCSI Bahrain has continued to grow its curriculum and now offers additional healthcare programmes including the regions first Masters in Nursing programme which was launched in early May 2009.

Source:ameinfo.com/

HEALTH-BAHRAIN: Men Bring HIV Home

Somaya Al Jowder: "Most of the women contracted the virus through sexual relations mainly with their infected husbands"





MANAMA, Dec 2 (IPS) - Umbassil* is unlike other engaged women. Instead of planning her wedding she is wondering where she will have her baby. She is not pregnant but she knows that Bahrain's maternity hospitals will not admit her because she is HIV positive.

The 26 year old who refuses to allow HIV to stop her from living her life to the fullest, is bothered by the prospect of being forced to deliver her baby in a country other than her own.

"I have come to terms with artificial insemination and caesarean section (C-section) to protect my future husband and baby from contracting the virus, but I cannot accept (that I have) to deliver far away from my country and family members," she told IPS.

Umbassil contracted the virus a few months ago from her previous fiancée who initiated unprotected sex. The two were married according to Muta'a or the temporary marriage custom prevalent in many Arab countries, which does not have legal sanction but is socially accepted.

She discovered her HIV status only after she underwent an HIV/AIDS test, which is a compulsory procedure for the government to acknowledge a marriage.

"It (sex without condoms) is a selfish act by most infected husbands who don't consider the health and well-being of their wives," comments Dr Somaya Al Jowder, director of the National Programme of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases. All Bahraini citizens infected with HIV are treated free under the government-run programme.

A total of 42 women like Umbassil have tested positive in Bahrain after unprotected sex with their infected fiancées or husbands.

Unfortunately, says Al Jowder, most infected people here do not disclose their HIV/AIDS status for fear of rejection.

In Bahrain, there is a lot of ignorance around the disease, even among health professionals, she told IPS. Doctors refuse to do an invasive C-section for HIV positive women, even though it reduces the risk of their babies contracting the virus. But hospitals do admit them for normal deliveries.

Infected Bahraini women face far more discrimination than the men who are responsible for bringing HIV into homes in this patriarchal society.

"There are 180 living HIV/AIDS patients, including 42 women, and they are few compared with Bahrain's population that exceeded 1 million at the end of 2008. Most of the women contracted the virus through sexual relations mainly with their infected husbands," Al Jowder said in an interview.

"We advice the females to not conceive and tell her about the best family planning methods, but if they insist, then we monitor their pregnancies and put them on medication (AZT) to save the babies," she explains. Pregnant women are prescribed the drug, which is administered free for all Bahraini citizens, from the fourth month of pregnancy.

HIV positive mothers delivered more than 10 healthy babies naturally in the last 20 years. In five cases the women were not on AZT. The drug reduces to 2 percent the chances of babies contracting the infection from their mothers.

Umbassil has been told that the best maternity facilities for HIV infected pregnant women are available in Egypt and Lebanon. But she is worried about how she and her fiancée would be able to afford the high cost of treatment.

So far, she has kept her HIV status a secret from everybody except her current fiancée and therapy and medical groups. "It is hard for me to hide such a horrible fact, but I have no option as my in-laws might force my fiancée to dump me," she says.

Fear of social prejudice has forced Umali, an AIDS activist "outside my country" from publicising her 15-year-old HIV status. She has not told her friends or relatives in case they refuse to let her into their homes.

Her husband, a reformed drug addict who campaigns, like her, for Bahrain's HIV/AIDS community in international fora, infected her.

"I'm an AIDS-fighting activist outside my country as there I feel free to fight for my right and defend HIV/AIDS patients. At home I have to put up with maltreatment and ignorance," says Umali.

She says she is very close to her sisters "but they don't eat anything I make or from my dishes for fear of infection," she confides. "It hurts when the people dearest to you don't accept a glass of water from you."

Social prejudice is not the only problem for Shafiqa who got the virus from her late husband 14 years ago. The lack of sensitivity from people who should know better bothers her more, she says, giving the example of a laboratory where she goes for a blood test regularly.

"We have to check the level of the virus in our blood regularly, so many lab specialists refuse to take our blood because we are HIV/AIDS patients, although they are wearing gloves all the times," she told IPS.

Shafiqa says that if medical professionals are unaware that HIV/AIDS patients are more at risk from infections contracted from so-called normal people because of their weak immune systems, how can ordinary people know any better.

The Bahrain government, through the National Programme of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases, is planning to draft a law to protect the rights of HIV/ AIDS patients, including women, and eliminate discrimination.

*All names used are pseudonyms to protect the women interviewed

Bahrain best country for expats: poll

By Adam Gonn/Manama

A new poll commissioned by HSBC Bank International has rated Bahrain the top nation for expatriates in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and among the top five globally.

The Expat Experience poll which is in its second year, surveyed 3,146 people working in 30 different industries and 50 countries, regarding their integration into local society, as well as their quality of life.

“In Bahrain, we have made a commitment to creating an attractive business environment for international companies looking to access the trillion dollar market of the Gulf,” Kamal Ahmed, chief operating officer of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) told The Media Line.

The EDB has the overall responsibility for creating the right climate to attract foreign investment.

“For those moving to our country, we know the factors they face when organising a new life,” Ahmed said, “and this report shows that Bahrain is not just the ideal location to do business in and from, but a great place to live as well.”

“We were really excited to have 12 new countries featured this year and Bahrain was one of the unexpected new entries,” Betony Taylor, corporate communications manager with HSBC Bank International told The Media Line.

“Expats living in the country rated it really highly for ease of integration,” Taylor said. “Overall it ranked as the best country to join local community groups and co-ordinate health care.”

“Respondents found it less easy to make local friends and learn the languages (Arabic, Farsi and Urdu),” Taylor said. “But the country ranked in the top five when it came to finding a home, setting up finances, and finding good schools.”

According to the survey some 81% of all expatriates in Bahrain are ‘expat-lifers’ meaning they stay for over five years, something often taken by analysts as an indication of satisfaction.

The survey included 23 parameters ranging from organising children’s schooling, finding somewhere to live and finding love.

Bahrain like many other Gulf countries is rich in natural resources such as oil and natural gas which currently provide 70% of the national income. Fears Bahrain’s economy may be overly reliant on these finite resources have prompted the government to work on diversifying the national economy.

The main fields under development are construction, Islamic banking and an emergent metal industry using the country’s cheap energy prices to establish aluminium and iron smelting plants.

While a large expatriate community has contributed to the country’s knowledge and skills base vital to its economic diversification, criticisms have been levelled at the policy for causing high unemployment rates as nationals are unable to compete with expatriates for jobs in the private sector.

The official unemployment rate in Bahrain stands at 3.5%, although the actual figure is believed to be much higher. In order to tackle this problem a new initiative has been set up to replace high numbers of expatriates with nationals.

The new programme aims to place 35,000 well-educated Bahrainis with high-skill levels in positions currently held by qualified expatriates and to train 150,000 nationals with high school degrees to take up entry level positions in the private sector. - The Media Line

Source:gulf-times.com/