‘Don’t be a hero’ Princess Haya tells Arab Women

Women in the Arab World see illness as a weakness, HRH Princess Haya said in a recent interview with Harper’s Arabia Bazaar. In excerpts from the conversation Princess Haya said that women themselves are often the last to seek medical attention due to the stigma surrounding poor health. “In the Arab world, and the world in general, women are probably the last people who actually admit to having a bad day, to not feeling quite well. There's this attitude that you have to push on and just keep going and they're generally the ones that we see last in a hospital looking for help.” Princess Haya, who acts as chairman for Dubai Healthcare City, said more needs to be done to encourage women in the region to come forward for breast cancer treatment. “I do think that there is more that can be done in areas such as breast cancer. “This is something that we have to work on in the Arab world because there's this stigma that you feel you can't come forward and admit that maybe there's something you need to treat,” she says.