The Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Volunteering Programme launched an innovative medical initiative to empower young people with basic skills and abilities to better serve their community and international family in partnership with the General Women’s Union, GWU, and the Zayed Giving Initiative, ZGI.
The programme said the new project will feature packages of virtual training and capacity-building workshops and activities on first-aid under prominent doctors from the Young Emirati Volunteer Leaders Programme.
The initiative, it explained, will organise many forums and workshops to build the capacities of different groups of society in the field of first aid through internationally-accredited programmes for community, institutions and sports using a specialised mobile first-aid training centre, the first of its kind in the region, equipped with the latest virtual training technology and simulation.
The launch of the initiative comes within the framework of the partnership between the two organisations to enable citizens and residents to actively participate in emergencies, especially due to the coronavirus, by providing them with the necessary skills and knowledge that enable them to protect themselves and their community, before the arrival of specialist first-aid crews.
Noura Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General of the GWU, stated that the launch of the initiative comes under the directives of H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, GWU, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, FDF,
to support community efforts and enhance preparedness and readiness of various groups of society, especially women, to be effective actor in dealing with all emergency situations to reduce the percentage of side effects and deaths resulting from cardiac arrest, strokes and other emergency cases.
She added that the initiative will also motivate and engage other parties including federal ministries and local departments to build a database for first responders who can be summoned in case of emergencies.
“The initiative will work to attract young people, qualify them, build their capacities, and empower them to serve the community locally and humanity at large through the Sheikha Fatima Global Humanitarian Campaign, which has effectively contributed to saving the lives of many people in various parts of the world, regardless of colour, gender, race or religion, following the approach of the late Founding Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan,” Al Suwaidi.
Al Anoud Al Ajami, Executive Director of the Zayed Giving Initiative, and Director of the Young Emirati Volunteer Leaders Programme, said, “The initiative will make a qualitative leap in the field of community first aid and will provide volunteers with the opportunity to develop their skills and experiences and gain valuable knowledge about the best international methods and practices, especially concerning emergency response.”
She added that the UAE First Aid Centre has been accredited to provide training on first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation for two years after which trainees will obtain an internationally-accredited certificate.
