We launched this Foundation to cater for the urgent needs that I have experienced and closely followed throughout my years of public responsibility. Indeed, the field of social service requires many contributors and institutions that provide guidance and heal the wounds of all segments of our society. At the forefront of these segments, I have strived to extend my care particularly to women who, despite their difficult conditions, signs of injustice and the silence they keep about their suffering, still uphold society with their great sense of motherhood and their immeasurable sacrifices.

It is a Foundation that embraces the social, health and livelihood problems and concerns of Lebanese and Arab women through practical projects aimed at diagnosing the needs and providing the necessary support. After careful consideration and investigation, I have chosen to dedicate the very first of these projects to women healthcare, as a fundamental pillar for her growth, protection and empowerment.

And here I am, today, placing in the hands of those who believe in active partnership in the field of social service, the project “Women Heart Health Center” (WHHC), dedicated to coronary heart disease in women. Lebanon, similarly to most Arab countries, lacks the basic preventive services likely to reduce the risks and the burden of this disease through screening and early detection. Neither does it have the proper healthcare services capable of fighting it, although it is the number one killer of women, both in Lebanon and around the globe (with more than 3,000 annual deaths registered in Lebanon). Indeed, in the report published lately by the World Health Organization, Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) proved to be the leading cause of mortality (45% of total deaths) in Lebanon. CVD was responsible for 56% of deaths among females, caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Yaduna’s Women Heart Health Center, specialized in prevention and primarytreatment, offers screening and diagnostic tests with its state-of-the-art services and novel technologies, and provides leadership and financial support in fulfillment of its mission and vision to promote women’s cardiovascular health.In addition to these tests aimed at early detection of coronary heart disease, the Center will also play a vital role in raising awareness about its dangers,identifying the risk factors in Lebanese and Arab societies, as well as undertaking research programs and providing adequate training for the medical staff to properly fight the disease. We will also undertake lobbying campaigns aimed at improving the legislations and standards of care and prevention of coronary heart disease.

Therefore, in order to implement the highest standards of clinical practice,WHHC collaborates with the American University of Beirut and Saint Joseph University in order to provide all the doctors, train the personnel, supervise the quality of the offered medical services, and undertake the necessary scientific research

This is not merely a personal vision, but rather a humanitarian commitment which requires partners who share this faith in the power of good, and in the right of all women to health and a decent life.

I am fully confident that the seed we are planting today in the soil of this project will grow, with the care of generous hands, into an edifice likely to reinforce the position of Lebanon in the domain of healthcare.