Feeding stray cats, spitting illegal in UAE

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to over 630,000 Filipinos, throwing cigarette butts in the streets and feeding stray cats is considered illegal in parts of the country.

According to a report of the news site Emirates 24/7 on Sunday, in the town of Al Ain, "inspectors caught 570 people, mostly Asians, for spitting in public and all of them were fined."

The authorities were also on the look out "for cigarette butt throwers, 370 of whom were also fined," the report said.

The Al Ain Municipality said the measures were intended to control “uncivilized and unhealthy” behavior.

New policy on vaccination in Dubai

The new policy that brings uniform immunization reporting and recording system for hospitals and health clinics in both public and private sectors in Dubai. This is a part of implementation of the first standardized immunization services policy that was announced by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) on Monday.

"The policy stems from DHA's wider aim to improve public health services in the emirate and is in line with the objectives of Dubai Health Strategy 2011 to 2013," said Laila Al Jasmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA.

"It will ensure that we are able to prevent communicable diseases from spreading. Everyone who lives in the emirate should have the same vaccination. We found we did not have a uniform policy for vaccination. By implementing the new policy we will ensure that everyone follows the same guidelines for vaccination," Laila told Gulf News.