Doctors and healthcare professionals are meeting in Dubai this weekend to examine one of the most socially challenging fields of Middle East health - sexual medicine and its impact on lifestyle and happiness.
The 3rd Biennial Conference of the Pan-Arab Society for Sexual Medicine brings together physicians from across the region to learn from a panel of distinguished international experts.
“Issues surrounding sexual medicine have a major impact on people’s health and happiness, so this conference – by bringing together so many leading experts – will make a real contribution to enhancing our understanding and helping us to help a higher proportion of people in the region,” said Dr. Tarek Anis, President of the Pan-Arab Society for Sexual Medicine.
Speakers at the event include Rosie King, founding member of the Australian Center for Sexual Health at St Luke's Hospital in Sydney and Farid Saad, Professor, Research Dept. at the Gulf Medical College School of Medicine, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.
High on the agenda for discussion will be the results on one of the largest global surveys ever-conducted, which interviewed 12,563 men and women in 27 countries, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and Malaysia.
Results from the study provide comparative in-depth data on the needs and aspirations of couples around the world, offering a unique insight into the state of sexual health and happiness today.
Among the startling finding of the Global Better Sex Survey (GBSS) was that more than half the world’s men and women are not fully satisfied with their sex lives, and that 57 percent of all couples in the Middle East region were not fully satisfied with their sex lives.
On a country-by-country basis, 40 percent of men and 62 percent of women in the UAE said they were “very satisfied” with their love lives, compared to 46 percent of men and 49 percent of women in Kuwait. Egypt saw 39 percent of men and 41 percent of women report that they were “very satisfied.”
However, the study also demonstrated the positive role that physicians can play in helping to increase the levels of satisfaction.
The Science of Satisfaction
“The GBSS is important because, for the first time, it reveals the extent of sexual dissatisfaction experienced by couples around the globe, with a specific focus on regions like the Middle East,” said Dr Rosie King, a speaker at the event and expert consultant to the GBSS project.
Dr King believes that there is a clear link between the GBSS findings and new clinical studies that suggest a lack of complete sexual satisfaction in some men may be driven by physical rather than psychological factors. By addressing these ‘physical’ attributes, Dr King believes couples can be helped to achieve greater sexual satisfaction.
Evidence from the study suggests that setting treatment goals to improve the physical attributes – including hardness of erection and the ability to achieve and maintain an erection – are important to an enhanced sexual experience.
Support from physicians, through the prescription of breakthrough medications like Viagra, can deliver real emotional and physical benefits to the man and his partner, therefore.
Other issues under discussion at the Conference include the use of Drug therapy in the treatment of Male Sexual Dysfunction in Islamic Medicine, Lessons from the Female Perspective; and the impact of the Metabolic Syndrome on human sexuality.
The event runs from February 8-11, 2007.
About the 3rd biennial PASSM Conference
This meeting will introduce health care providers, to the manifold, diverse perspectives of contemporary sexual medicine. It promises truly to be rich in exciting scientific as well as new practical data.
The 3rd biennial conference of the Pan Arab Society for Sexual Medicine (PASSM) is a great opportunity for all interested professionals to increase their understanding of the fascinating interactions that characterize human sexuality.
