As Abu Dhabi reports an emirate-wide IVF success rate of 59% in 2026, the whitepaper sets out a connected model spanning prevention, genetics, treatment, patient experience and research.

• The Abu Dhabi Programme for the Future of Reproductive Health connects prevention, screening, genetics, fertility treatment, digital health, regulation, workforce development, and research; within it, an IVF blueprint focuses on patient experience, facility infrastructure, workforce, technology, and innovation and global partnerships.
• The World Health Organisation estimates that around one in six adults experience infertility during their lifetime, while an estimated 9.8-13 million infants were born worldwide through assisted reproductive technologies between 1978 and 2018.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 22 October 2026 – Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi has released The Future of Fertility: From IVF to Integrated Reproductive Medicine, a new whitepaper developed with Knowledge Contributor PwC Middle East. The whitepaper examines how advances in science, genomics, AI, digital health, and care delivery are reshaping reproductive medicine, and how Abu Dhabi is translating a broader reproductive-health ambition into system change.

Reproductive medicine is entering a new phase. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have helped millions of individuals and families achieve parenthood, with an estimated 9.8-13 million infants born worldwide through ART between 1978 and 2018. At the same time, the World Health Organisation estimates that around one in six adults experience infertility at some point in their lives. The whitepaper argues that the future of fertility care extends beyond IVF as a procedure, towards a broader model that supports individuals and families across the reproductive-health journey.

Abu Dhabi’s response is centred on the Abu Dhabi Programme for the Future of Reproductive Health, led by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi. The programme brings together three interconnected pillars: awareness and prevention across life stages; access to and coverage of reproductive healthcare services; and enabling capabilities spanning regulation, genomics and digital technologies. Within this wider programme, an IVF blueprint focuses on patient experience, facility infrastructure, workforce, technology, and innovation and global partnerships, strengthening the capabilities needed to deliver high-quality fertility care and connect it with the wider reproductive-health system.

Her Excellency Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Globally, reproductive medicine is entering a new era. Advances in science, genomics, AI and digital health are giving us new ways to understand fertility, personalise care, and improve outcomes for more people. But technology alone is not enough. The real opportunity is to bring research, clinical care and innovation together, so that people experience their care as a single journey rather than disjointed services.

“That is the approach we are building in Abu Dhabi, bringing together policy, clinical expertise, research, technology and collaboration in one connected reproductive-health ecosystem. Through Future Health, we are sharing this approach with the world and inviting others to help shape a future where fertility care is more connected, more accessible, and centred on the needs of every person,” she added.

Abu Dhabi is already translating this integrated approach into practice. In 2025, the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre expanded the IFHAS comprehensive screening programme to include reproductive-health screening for men and women aged 20–35, while a 2026 preconception-care standard sets structured referral pathways into genetics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and fertility services where indicated. The emirate’s expanded premarital genetic screening programme also supports earlier identification of inherited risks; By July 2026, 11,748 couples had undergone screening, and 565 cases of genetic incompatibility had been identified. This enables affected couples to access genetic counselling and appropriate healthcare services, make informed decisions and reduce the risk of transmitting genetic disorders to future generations.

Within IVF care, Abu Dhabi has introduced common standards for patient experience and quality measurement, with licensed providers required to report age-stratified clinical pregnancy and live-birth rates alongside treatment complications and laboratory outcomes. Patients are also assigned dedicated IVF care coordinators to support appointments, follow-up, and communication, while digital services through TAMM enable booking, registration and remote check-in. Against this backdrop, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi reported an IVF success rate exceeding 51% in 2024, rising to 59% across the emirate in 2026, with an ambition to reach 80% by 2030.

Osama AbuHantash, Partner, Health Industries, PwC Middle East, said: “The future of reproductive medicine extends well beyond advances in IVF treatment. This white paper explores the opportunity to shift from a largely reactive approach to infertility towards a more proactive model that places greater emphasis on prevention, early identification of reproductive-health risks and informed decision-making. It also highlights the potential of advances in genomics and emerging technologies to improve care, while ensuring that innovation is supported by robust evidence and translates into meaningful clinical outcomes and better patient experiences. Abu Dhabi’s evolving approach offers valuable insights for health systems seeking to advance more preventive, personalised and outcomes-focused reproductive care.”

Looking ahead, the whitepaper identifies three areas through which Abu Dhabi can build on these foundations: advancing more comprehensive and connected reproductive care; connecting technology and innovation with scientific discovery; and aligning world-class capabilities around clinical outcomes that matter to patients. It also emphasises the importance of distinguishing between technologies that are established in care, those still being evaluated and those that remain experimental, so innovation is introduced with appropriate evidence, oversight and governance.

The whitepaper forms part of Future Health’s Abu Dhabi Blueprints series and reflects its 2026 theme, ‘To Sense is to Predict’, exploring how earlier and increasingly precise insights can support more predictive, preventive and personalised approaches to health. 

The full whitepaper can be downloaded here.

ENDS

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a government-led initiative by the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

It serves as a platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, anchored around four impact areas, longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences.

Bringing together researchers, policymakers, healthcare leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health is designed to redefine what health systems can deliver for future generations, anywhere in the world.

Future Health collaborates with key partners including PureHealth, M42, the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi and Mubadala BIO as Founding Partners, Mediclinic as Strategic Partner and Burjeel as Associate Partner.

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae and follow Future Health on social media platforms.

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae

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Programme creates a two-way pathway between emerging-market health innovation and Abu Dhabi’s growing health ecosystem

• New programme will support locally rooted health entrepreneurs to build stronger ventures and deepen their impact in the communities they serve
• Entrepreneurs will receive tailored support, with selected groups later having the opportunity to access Abu Dhabi’s health innovations ecosystem
• The programme responds to persistent gaps in capital and specialist support for promising health innovation across emerging markets
• First phase will target around 50 entrepreneurs leading late-incubation to early-acceleration ventures in Africa and Asia

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 21 October 2026 – Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi and Bridge for Billions will launch a new entrepreneurship programme designed to strengthen promising health ventures in emerging markets and help locally-developed solutions reach more people.

The new programme will seek to address some of the barriers faced by entrepreneurs, combining structured capacity-building with access to expertise, networks, and health systems connections. Over time, selected entrepreneurs will also have opportunities to engage with Abu Dhabi’s health innovation ecosystem and explore pathways for wider growth.

The first phase will focus on identifying around 50 entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia who have progressed beyond the initial idea stage but remain early enough to benefit from structured support. Ventures will be assessed on quality, maturity, scalability, market needs, and relevance to health priorities.

The second phase will deliver a tailored online programme covering regulatory navigation, health-system integration, business-model validation, and investor readiness. Following this, a smaller group will then be then selected for an acceleration phase in Abu Dhabi, creating opportunities to engage with the emirate’s regulators, healthcare providers, research institutions and investors, and build longer-term relationships across its health innovation ecosystem.

This dedicated acceleration phase in Abu Dhabi will support selected entrepreneurs in scaling their solutions. This is the centrepiece of the ‘world to Abu Dhabi’ dimension and will be designed to create lasting ecosystem relationships, not just temporary residency.

Her Excellency Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Entrepreneurs with a deep understanding of the communities they serve can develop solutions grounded in real health needs, local realities, and affordability and access to the right expertise, networks and investment can help turn that potential into lasting impact. Future Health’s collaboration with Bridge for Billions can help deepen their impact at home, while creating pathways for the most promising solutions to reach more people over time.”

For Abu Dhabi, the programme will also create a pathway to engage with promising, locally-tested health innovation emerging from diverse markets. By connecting selected entrepreneurs with the emirate’s health ecosystem, the programme aims to support longer-term knowledge exchange and collaboration while strengthening Abu Dhabi’s connections to emerging health innovation globally.

“Entrepreneur support organizations are closest to health founders in emerging markets. They understand the local regulatory landscape, the health systems and the communities where these ventures operate, and they are often the first to back a founder long before capital arrives. Through Conecta Healthcare, Bridge for Billions advocates for ESOs and works alongside them, because strengthening these organisations is how we strengthen health entrepreneurship at scale. Together with Future Health, we want to give founders and the organisations that support them the tools, networks and visibility to shape the future of global health innovation, especially across the Global South.”, said Pablo Santaeufemia, CEO of Bridge for Billions.  

Emerging markets are home to significant health needs and entrepreneurial potential, yet many promising ventures can struggle to access the capital, specialist guidance, and health-system connections required to grow. WIPO’s Global Innovation Index 2024 reported that Latin America and Africa together accounted for around 3% of global venture-capital deals in the first half of 2024, while venture-capital values fell by 19% in Asia-Pacific and 80% in Africa.

At the same time, entrepreneurs rooted in the communities they serve can bring a close understanding of local health needs, affordability constraints, and the realities of delivering care. Strengthening these businesses has the potential to create wider benefits for their communities, according to the World Bank Group, each health-sector job in low-income countries is associated with an estimated 3.4 additional jobs across related industries.

The programme forms part of Future Health’s year-round work to create practical pathways for global health innovation to develop, scale, and reach the communities in need.

Applications, eligibility criteria and further programme details will be announced at a later stage.

ENDS

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. 

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all.

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences. 

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner.

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae

• A new white paper by Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi examines how genomics, clinical research, regulation, and specialist care can be connected to turn scientific advances into measurable patient outcomes.

• Original Strategy& analysis finds that cell and gene therapies and RNA/DNA therapeutics are forecast to grow approximately seven- to eight-fold from their current base, while established therapeutic approaches are expected to remain the largest markets through 2033.
• The white paper identifies four priorities: precision clinical trials, clearer managed-access pathways, therapeutic capabilities in selected areas, and reusable long-term evidence.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2026 – Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi has released a new white paper in collaboration with Knowledge Contributor Strategy& Middle East, part of the PwC network, setting out four priorities for connecting the Emirate’s capabilities in genomics, health data, clinical research, regulation, and specialist care to translate therapeutic innovation into patient care.

Titled The Future of Therapeutics: How Abu Dhabi can help translate the next generation of science into patient care, itexamines how health and life-sciences ecosystems can translate scientific advances into therapies that can be developed, validated, and delivered reliably to patients. It highlights Abu Dhabi’s growing capabilities across population genomics, biobanking, longitudinal health data, clinical research, regulation, and specialist care, and explores how these assets can be more closely connected around selected therapeutic programmes.

Original Strategy& analysis developed for the white paper shows that established approaches such as small-molecule and antibody-based medicines are expected to remain the largest therapeutic markets through 2033, while cell and gene therapies and RNA/DNA therapeutics are forecast to grow approximately seven- to eight-fold from current levels. The findings support a selective, disease-led approach to building therapeutic capabilities.

The white paper describes how genomics, multi-omics and artificial intelligence are helping researchers understand the mechanisms driving disease and identify more precisely defined patient groups. Published research cited in the paper found that mechanisms supported by human genetic evidence were approximately 2.6 times as likely to succeed in clinical development as those without such support, illustrating the potential value of grounding drug development in human biology.

It also finds that increasingly precise therapies place new demands on the systems surrounding them. Smaller, biologically defined patient populations may require new trial designs, specialist clinical infrastructure, coordinated regulation and access, and evidence that continues to be collected after treatment.

H.E. Dr. Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Scientific advances are changing what is possible in medicine, giving us new ways to understand disease and develop increasingly precise treatments. The opportunity now is to ensure that this progress can be translated into therapies that deliver meaningful outcomes for patients. Abu Dhabi has built strong foundations across genomics, health data, clinical research, and specialist care. By connecting these capabilities more closely and working with leading partners globally, we can create a clearer path from scientific discovery to patient care, helping promising therapies reach the patients who can benefit while continuing to build the evidence that will shape the future of treatment.”

What distinguishes Abu Dhabi is not simply the scale of its genomic programme, but its ability to turn population-specific genomic variation into clinical action by connecting genomic and biobank data with longitudinal health records, trial infrastructure and specialist care. Progress will ultimately be measured by whether those insights lead to better target discovery, more precise patient identification and improved outcomes. This opportunity is reinforced by the region’s historical underrepresentation in clinical research.

Irfan Merali, Partner, Strategy& Middle East, said: “The next wave of therapeutics is becoming increasingly precise, from how we understand disease to how patients are identified, treated and followed over time. Abu Dhabi’s opportunity lies in building on its strengths in health data, clinical research and specialist care to attract and support companies working in genomics and advanced therapeutics, creating a more seamless path from scientific discovery to patient impact.”

Looking ahead, the four priority areas through which Abu Dhabi can build on these foundations featured in the white paper include: expanding precision clinical trials using genomic and longitudinal health data; creating clearer managed-access pathways so appropriate patients can access innovation while further evidence is collected; deepening therapeutic capabilities in areas where Abu Dhabi has scientific or clinical strength; and ensuring that long-term patient outcomes can inform future clinical guidance, reimbursement and research.

The publication forms part of Future Health’s Abu Dhabi Blueprints series, sharing research and practical approaches to shape the future of health.

The full white paper can be downloaded at: https://futurehealthinitiative.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/ONLINE-VERSION-The-Future-of-Therapeutics.pdf

#ENDS#

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. 

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all.

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences. 

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner.

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae

About Strategy&

Strategy& is a global strategy consulting business uniquely positioned to help deliver your best future: one that is built on differentiation from the inside out and tailored exactly to you. As part of PwC, we’re building the winning systems that are at the heart of growth every day. We combine our powerful foresight with this tangible know-how, technology, and scale to help you create a better, more transformative strategy from day one.

As the only at-scale strategy business that’s part of a global professional services network, we embed our strategy capabilities with frontline teams across PwC to show you where you need to go, the choices you’ll need to make to get there, and how to get it right.

The result is an authentic strategy process powerful enough to capture possibility while pragmatic enough to ensure effective delivery. It’s the strategy that gets an organization through today’s changes and drives results that redefine tomorrow. It’s the strategy that turns vision into reality. It’s strategy, made real.

• Documentary follows ThinkMD, VectorCam, and Huna, the three award recipients from the inaugural Future Health Impact Challenge, delivered in collaboration with MIT Solve
• Prospective participants can now register to receive information about the second Future Health Impact Challenge ahead of its upcoming full launch

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2026: Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi today premiered a documentary film about the inaugural Future Health Impact Challenge during the first day of the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit. The film’s global launch, alongside the announcement of the second Challenge connects the Challenge’s initial results with its next phase with Expressions of Interest now open for the second edition.

Delivered in collaboration with MIT Solve, the inaugural Impact Challenge demonstrates the transformative power of innovative solutions that accelerate the shift from reactive to anticipatory healthcare systems.

With scenes filmed in Kigali, Medellín, São Paulo, Boston, and Abu Dhabi, the film shares personal commentary from the founders, local perspectives of the solutions in action, and insight from Future Health and MIT Solve. It follows the winner and two distinguished finalists as they turn signals from frontline consultations, mosquito surveillance, and routine blood tests into information that are supporting earlier health decisions for people, communities, and health systems.

The solutions emerging from these companies reflect both the urgency and opportunity facing health systems globally. Through Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi, innovators can connect with policymakers, funders, and implementers who can help create pathways toward wider adoption and impact.

Dr Asma Al Mannaei, Executive Director of the Health and Life Sciences Sector at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi said “Too often, health systems only detect risk once it has become illness and when treatment is more complex. Solutions from the Future Health Impact Challenge are designed to identify risk earlier and support more timely decisions at a population level. The priority now is testing and scaling what works in real-world settings.”

The film also examines the work required after an innovation has been recognised. Local validation, integration into health-system workflows, responsible data governance, sustainable financing, and workforce training all shape whether an early signal leads to more informed decisions and better health outcomes.

With the inaugural Challenge attracting 393 submissions from 68 countries, Expressions of Interest are now open for prospective participants to receive information on the second Challenge as its scope and application arrangements are finalised.

Hala Hanna, Executive Director, MIT Solve said: “We’re excited to work with Future Health for a second year,” said Hala Hanna, Executive Director of MIT Solve. “Future Health’s commitment to working with Solve to identify and support innovators who are advancing health care through innovative solutions translates to direct impact in communities around the world. These are the kind of partnerships that are building a better future for all.”

The Expression of Interest process will allow those who register to receive updates on the second Future Health Impact Challenge theme, eligibility requirements, available support, key dates, and application process when these are publicly announced.

Award recipients featured in the documentary include:

Winner: ThinkMD, filmed in Rwanda

An offline-capable mobile clinical decision-support platform that guides frontline health workers through structured assessments and turns routine encounters into population health signals. According to Challenge materials, it is used by more than 9,000 frontline workers across 885 facilities, and that symptom patterns in its data preceded a confirmed cholera outbreak in Zambia.

Distinguished Finalist: Vector Control Innovations, filmed in Colombia

VectorCam uses a low-cost smartphone imaging device and offline AI to help community health workers identify mosquitoes in the field and generate time- and location-based surveillance data. Field evaluations reported in the Challenge materials found that data completeness increased from about 60 per cent to more than 90 per cent.

Distinguished Finalist: Huna, filmed in Brazil

Huna analyses routine complete blood count data to identify people at elevated cancer risk and prioritise them for appropriate screening and care pathways. Rather than diagnosing cancer from a blood test, the solution is designed to help identify who may benefit from further investigation. According to Challenge materials, deployments in Brazil have screened more than 500,000 people and identified hundreds of cancer cases.

The Future Health Impact Challenge documentary film can be viewed at ​From Innovation to Action | Future Health Impact Challenge ​ – YouTube.

Participants interested in registering their Expression of Interest can submit their details at Future Health Impact Challenge | MIT Solve.

ENDS

Media Enquiries

For media enquiries, interview requests and accreditation opportunities, please contact: media@futurehealthinitative.ae

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi 

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. 

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all.

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences. 

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner.

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

New whitepaper examines how wearable-generated health data can move beyond consumer wellness and become a trusted input into preventive, personalised, and population health.

• The whitepaper proposes a five-pillar framework to move wearable adoption from a device strategy towards health-system integration at population scale.
• Abu Dhabi’s digital health ecosystem, including Sahatna, Malaffi, Health Age, e-prescriptions and the Emirati Genome Program, provides strong foundations for greater integration of wearable-generated health data.
• The paper sets out a three-phase roadmap: Build, Accelerate, and Transform, to move from policy, standards, and priority use cases to deeper workflow integration and longer-term precision prevention.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2026 – Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi has released Embedding Wearables into the Future of Health and Wellbeing, a new whitepaper examining how wearable technologies could support more preventive, personalised and continuous models of care.

Developed in collaboration with Knowledge Contributor Deloitte, the whitepaper sets out a five-pillar framework for the next phase of wearable-enabled healthcare, spanning technology and interoperability; data governance and privacy; regulatory and policy enablement; consumer and clinical adoption; and ecosystem partnerships and innovation. Together, the pillars demonstrate the technical, regulatory, clinical and organisational considerations required for the safe and scalable integration of wearable technologies into Abu Dhabi’s health ecosystem.

The publication comes as connected health technologies become more sophisticated and widely adopted. The global wearable technology market was valued at USD 92.9 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 229.9 billion in 2033. Yet the whitepaper finds that wider integration continues to face challenges spanning data quality and clinical validation, fragmented technology ecosystems, privacy and data governance, and clinical integration.

H.E. Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Wearable technologies are giving us a more continuous picture of our health and creating new opportunities to identify risk earlier. Beyond individual data points, their largely untapped value lies in connecting those insights with the health system, to support earlier intervention and help people stay healthier for longer.”

“In Abu Dhabi, we have already built strong digital health foundations, and our focus is to ensure that new sources of health insight can be translated into meaningful action. Through this whitepaper, Future Health is setting out a practical framework for how wearable technologies can support that shift at scale”, she added.

Abu Dhabi already has several of the foundations needed to advance this agenda. Through Sahatna, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi combines wearable data with longitudinal health records from Malaffi to generate a personalised Health Age score, giving users insights into the clinical and lifestyle factors influencing their health. Alongside e-prescriptions and the Emirati Genome Program, these initiatives create opportunities to connect continuous health data with Abu Dhabi’s wider focus on prevention, longevity and personalised care.

Rohan Sawhney, Partner, Deloitte Middle East, said: “The value of wearable technology lies not simply in its adoption, but in how effectively the data it generates can be translated into personalised interventions and improved health outcomes. Abu Dhabi has the infrastructure and strategic ambition to advance this transformation. The opportunity now is to move beyond individual pilots towards wider integration, ensuring that wearable technologies deliver meaningful, long-term value for individuals and the healthcare system.”

Looking ahead, the whitepaper sets out an indicative three-phase roadmap. The Build phase focuses on policy clarity, technical standards, early pilots and stakeholder alignment; Accelerate considers deeper integration into health platforms and provider workflows; and Transform explores wearable data as a routine, trusted input into precision prevention, clinical decision-making and population health management.

The framework identifies high-value applications including diabetes and obesity, maternal health, elderly fall-risk and preventive wellness, reflecting the potential for continuous health insights to support major public-health priorities. As adoption grows, the whitepaper argues that realising their wider potential will depend on ensuring the data generated can be used safely, consistently and meaningfully across health systems.

The whitepaper reflects Future Health’s 2026 theme, ‘To Sense is to Predict’, exploring how earlier and more continuous health insights can support more predictive and preventive approaches to care.

The full whitepaper can be downloaded here: https://futurehealthinitiative.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/ONLINE-VERSION-Embedding-Wearables-into-the-Future-of-Health-and-Wellbeing.pdf

ENDS

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.  

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all. 

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences.  

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners: PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner. 

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae  

About Deloitte

With over 175 years of experience globally and a century of uninterrupted presence in the Middle East, Deloitte has worked alongside leaders to build better futures, support their people, and achieve lasting success – all while caring for the communities we serve. Since 1926, Deloitte’s partnership with governments, businesses, and institutions across the region has contributed meaningfully to the growth of industries, the strengthening of institutions, and the advancement of sustainable development.

As we mark 100 years in the Middle East, we reflect on a legacy defined by resilience, trust, and measurable impact. Deloitte is the world’s largest professional services firm, providing audit and assurance, tax, consulting, and related services to public and private clients across multiple industries.

Driven by purpose, we bring innovative insights, solve complex challenges, and unlock sustainable growth – reaffirming our commitment to shaping a more prosperous future, together. Please see www.deloitte.com to learn more.

• The Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge 2026 invites global innovators to develop AI, software, and connected technology solutions across fertility, population health, and wellbeing
• Selected teams will gain access to technical and clinical expertise across Abu Dhabi’s health and innovation ecosystem, alongside structured support to refine solutions, test assumptions and develop working prototypes, helping them turn promising ideas into real-world impact faster
• Selected solutions may also progress to further validation, incubation, piloting and scale, while three finalists will also share a total prize pool of USD 105,000 at an awards ceremony at GITEX 2026
• Inception42, MBZUAI, and Microsoft join as co-creators in the Challenge

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 15 October 2026: Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi opened applications for the Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge 2026, inviting innovators from around the world to harness AI and emerging technology solutions to that can enable people and health systems to better understand health needs earlier and act sooner.

Selected teams will gain access to technical and clinical expertise across Abu Dhabi’s health and innovation ecosystem, alongside structured support to refine their solutions, test assumptions and develop working prototypes, helping them turn promising ideas into real-world impact faster. Selected solutions may also have the opportunity to progress to further validation, incubation, piloting and scale. As part of the programme, three finalists will progress to an awards ceremony at GITEX 2026 and share a total prize pool of USD 105,000. The winning team will receive USD 50,000, and two finalists will receive USD 35,000 and USD 20,000 respectively. 

Beyond the competition, selected solutions may also be considered for further validation and potential pathways towards incubation, piloting, and scale, creating opportunities for continued development following the programme.

The Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge reflects Abu Dhabi’s ambition to advance healthcare from responding to illness towards anticipating health needs. By bringing together clinical capabilities, connected health information, and technology expertise, the emirate is creating an environment where innovation can be developed around pressing health needs and moved closer to practical application.

It also brings Future Health’s 2026 theme, ‘To Sense is to Predict’, into action by exploring how innovative solutions can translate health signals from individuals, communities, and health systems into earlier insight, better-informed decisions, and more timely intervention.

The Challenge will apply this thinking across three areas – fertility, population health, and wellbeing – with participating teams invited to develop solutions within one of the Challenge focus areas :

• Fertility: Exploring how technology can support earlier understanding of reproductive health and potential, helping individuals and clinicians make more informed decisions and navigate fertility care.
• Population Health: Exploring how data and technology can help identify emerging health risks, strengthen prevention and screening, and support timely action across communities and populations.
• Wellbeing: Exploring how technology can help people understand changes in their health and wellbeing, sustain healthier behaviours, and access more personalised support over time.

H.E. Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Digital innovation is giving us new ways to understand health risks and needs earlier. The opportunity now is to turn that intelligence into action that improves people’s health and supports more proactive and personalised models of care.

“Abu Dhabi is creating an environment where innovators can develop solutions around pressing health needs, supported by strong clinical capabilities, connected health information and advanced technology expertise. Through the Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge 2026, we are inviting global talent to bring forward promising ideas and work with our ecosystem to move them closer to practical action. The solutions developed through this Challenge have the potential to support better health outcomes in Abu Dhabi while generating technologies and knowledge that can contribute to better health systems globally”, she added.

The Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge welcomes startups, researchers, developers, clinicians, students and entrepreneurs, applying individually or as multidisciplinary teams. Applications may include new concepts, early-stage prototypes, or existing solutions that can be adapted to address one of the three Challenge areas.

Selected participants will join a structured development programme and receive technical and clinical guidance from experts across Abu Dhabi’s health and innovation ecosystem. The programme will help teams refine their solutions, test their assumptions, and develop working prototypes or demonstrable technologies.

Co-created with MBZUAI, Inception42 and Microsoft, the Challenge will connect participants with expertise in artificial intelligence, technology development and solution-building, alongside clinical and health-system perspectives from Abu Dhabi’s health ecosystem.

Abu Dhabi provides a strong foundation for this work. A white paper co-authored by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and the World Economic Forum highlighted the emirate’s development of an integrated, intelligence-driven health system and its potential to serve as a model for more preventive, personalised and data-enabled healthcare.

The Challenge also builds on significant activity already underway across the emirate. The Abu Dhabi Programme for the Future of Reproductive Health brings together more than 2,000 experts across over 250 facilities, while 25 initiatives under the Abu Dhabi Healthy Living Strategy are advancing prevention and healthier living across the community.

Abu Dhabi is also exploring how wearable and longitudinal health information can be combined to generate meaningful insights, support earlier intervention and strengthen health decision-making at both individual and population levels.

Through the Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge, Abu Dhabi is connecting global talent with pathways for promising ideas to move from insights towards implementation and measurable impact.

Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation. Bringing together researchers, policymakers, healthcare specialists, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health seeks to enable better health worldwide by connecting expertise with opportunities to advance solutions with measurable impact.

Innovators who are developing solutions using AI, software and connected technologies are invited to apply by 15^th November 2026. Full eligibility criteria, programme details and information on how to apply are available at Future Health Digital Innovation Challenge | Hack2skill.

Media Enquiries

For media enquiries, interview requests and accreditation opportunities, please contact: media@futurehealthinitative.ae

Media registrations for the 2026 Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit from October 20-22 are welcome at: Future Health Summit Media Registration

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi 

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. 

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all.

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences. 

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner.

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

About the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH): 
The DoH is the regulatory body of the healthcare sector at the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and ensures excellence in healthcare by monitoring the health status of the population. DoH defines the strategy for the health system, monitors and analyses the health status of the population and performance of the system. In addition, DoH shapes the regulatory framework for the health system, inspects against regulations, enforces standards, and encourages adoption of world-class best practices and performance targets by all healthcare service providers in the Emirate. DoH also drives programmes to increase awareness and adoption of healthy living standards among the residents of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in addition to regulating scope of services, premiums and reimbursement rates of the health system. 

For further information on DOH, visit https://www.doh.gov.ae/ and follow on Twitter, Instagram,  Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

• Under the theme “To Sense is to Predict”, Future Health puts prevention, precision and health system readiness at the centre of a global agenda for longer, healthier lives
• Future Health sets out the need to translate advances in research, data and technology into earlier intervention and better health outcomes.
• Year-round research, innovation and global dialogues provide a foundation for collaboration at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20–22 October.
• Abu Dhabi Blueprints will connect local experience across six priority areas with international expertise to inform policy and practice.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 8 October 2026: Health systems must become better at anticipating risk and acting before illness escalates, Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi highlighted at a media briefing, hosted by The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), ahead of the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026.

As advances in genomics, precision medicine and artificial intelligence expand the ability to understand health risks, the central challenge is translating that knowledge into timely, effective care. Earlier detection must be matched by the policies, investment, workforce capabilities and public trust needed to improve outcomes across populations.

This challenge will be at the forefront of the agenda at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20–22 October under the theme “To Sense is to Predict”. The theme places a fundamental question at the centre of the global health conversation: how can health systems use what they know today to better protect health tomorrow?

H.E. Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said  “The next chapter of health will be defined by our ability to act earlier. Scientific and technological advances are helping us understand risk with greater precision, but their value lies in how effectively we translate that understanding into better care and healthier lives. Through Future Health, Abu Dhabi is bringing together the expertise, policy perspectives and investment needed to advance this shift. Our ambition is to connect discovery with practical action, helping health systems anticipate challenges, strengthen resilience and support longer, healthier lives.”

Sharing experience to inform better health systems

The briefing also highlighted the Abu Dhabi Blueprints, a knowledge-sharing series drawing on Abu Dhabi’s capabilities and experience across six areas: longevity, healthy living, fertility, cancer, rare diseases, and genomics and therapeutics.

The Blueprints will bring practical learning and policy perspectives from Abu Dhabi into selected Future Health content and Summit programming, alongside broader international experience. Their purpose is to help nations and policymakers examine how approaches developed in one health ecosystem can inform progress in another.

A panel featuring Future Health’s Founding Partners—PureHealth, M42, the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi and Mubadala Bio—explored the implications of “To Sense is to Predict” for their organisations. The discussion considered how collaboration across healthcare delivery, research, technology and life sciences can help translate predictive capability into better health outcomes.

Adnan Anjum, Group Chief Commercial Officer, PureHealth, said: “For us, the future is about sensing early, intervening early and avoiding the risks that can make a person’s life much more difficult later. There are many events where people come together and talk about the future of health, but there are very few where the future is actually being built. Here, we are developing solutions and exporting those solutions.”

Dimitris Moulavasilis, Group CEO, M42, said: “By connecting insights at both the individual and community levels, we can diagnose diseases earlier, design targeted therapies and personalise care.” He added “I cannot see a better platform globally for those discussions to take place and for us to determine how we deliver impact at national and global scale.”

Hamad Almarzooqi, Deputy Group CEO, Mubadala Bio, said: “Understanding enables us to develop the products the country needs, cover the whole healthcare journey and build a resilient life-sciences industry for the future of the UAE. The future of health and innovation cannot be built by a single entity or a single company. It requires the whole ecosystem to help shape it.”

Allan Boston, COO, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, said: “If we can empower individuals with knowledge about what is influencing their future health, we can change their attitudes towards how they live their lives.” He added “That is one of Abu Dhabi’s key differences, and perhaps one of the reasons it is a leader in this field: the focus is on action.”

Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi delivers a year-round programme designed to advance this agenda across four key areas: Longevity and personalised precision medicine; digital health and artificial intelligence; resilience and sustainability of healthcare systems; and investment in life sciences.

Future Health’s year-round programme brings these disciplines together through research, innovation and global convening. Milestones include the inaugural Future Health Challenge, delivered with MIT Solve; the launch of the Future of Longevity and Future of Health Living whitepapers; participation as a Founding Member of the MIT Koch Institute’s BioConvergence Cancer Alliance; and seven Future Health Dialogues held in Abu Dhabi and alongside major international forums.

Together, these activities connect emerging ideas with evidence, expertise, funding and pathways to scale. They also provide a foundation for the Summit’s discussions on how health systems can move from recognising the potential of innovation to enabling its adoption.

The three winning teams of the inaugural Future Health Challenge will attend the Summit. Their solutions address earlier detection of health risks, population-level monitoring and faster decision-making by health authorities—practical capabilities that can support a more anticipatory approach to health.

More than 130 Forum speakers will participate across the Summit’s three days, addressing anticipatory health, health financing, women’s health, world health security and readiness for infectious disease threats.

Speakers highlighted at the briefing included H.E. Dr Fatima Al Kaabi, Director General of Emirates Drug Establishment; Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder and CEO of Eight Sleep; Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Laureate in Medicine; Elena Bonfiglioli, Global Business Leader, GM Healthcare, Pharma and Life Sciences at Microsoft; and H.E. Angeline Ndayishimiye, First Lady of the Republic of Burundi. Health Ministers from Armenia, Egypt, Montenegro, Kosovo and Colombia will also join local and international experts.

By bringing policymakers, healthcare providers, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and investors into the same conversation, the Summit will examine the decisions needed to make earlier intervention a practical reality—from how care is financed to how evidence is evaluated and innovation is adopted.

The Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026 will build on Future Health’s year-round work to advance a shared ambition: health systems that anticipate risk, respond effectively and help people live longer, healthier lives.

For more information about the initiative and to register: Future Health Summit Visitor Registration 

Media Enquiries 

For media enquiries, interview requests and accreditation opportunities, please contact: media@futurehealthinitative.ae 

Media registrations at the 2026 Future Health Summit are welcome at: Future Health Summit Media Registration  

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.  

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all. 

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences.  

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners M42, PureHealth, the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner 

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative

High-level dialogue explored how predictive and preventive health systems can deliver better health outcomes worldwide.

• Ministers, senior government representatives, and health leaders from 15 countries shared approaches to building health systems that predict risk, prevent disease, and support earlier intervention at population scale.
• Participants identified population-level data, financing, and delivery capacity as essential to turning earlier insight into action.
• Trust, community reach, and inclusive design were recognised as critical to ensuring that earlier insight and intervention are delivered effectively and equitably

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 26 September 2026: Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi convened Ministers, senior government representatives, and global health leaders in New York on the sidelines of the 81^st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81). The high-level dialogue set out practical priorities for moving health systems from reactive treatment towards prediction, prevention, and earlier intervention.

Chaired by H.E. Ahmed Al Sayegh, Minister of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates, the dialogue brought together participants from Angola, Brazil, Ethiopia, Finland, Guyana, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America.

Across different national contexts, four connected requirements emerged: population data to identify risk earlier; financing and incentives for prevention; delivery capacity to turn insight into timely services; and trusted, inclusive systems that reach people where they live. Prevention was also recognised as an investment in human capital.

Examples included national life-course screening; integrated demographic, clinical, and genomic data; community health workers supported by digital records; decentralised care; and policy action on nutrition, affordability, and healthier behaviour.

From earlier insight to practical action

H.E. Ahmed Al Sayegh, Minister of Health and Prevention of the United Arab Emirates, said: “Investing in prevention is an investment in people, and in the future of our societies. As science gives us a better understanding of risk, we must ensure that knowledge leads to earlier action and better health. The UAE remains committed to working with international partners, sharing experience, and strengthening cooperation to build health systems that ensure the health of our populations well into the future.”

Held under the theme ‘Redesigning Health Systems for Prediction, Prevention and Population Health Outcomes’, the discussion examined how health systems can best adopt scientific advances and move from pilots to population-scale delivery.

The dialogue reinforced that prevention depends on the environments in which people live and work, as well as trusted community infrastructure that supports everyday prevention and outbreak response. It also identified screening, referral, affordability and physical accessibility as barriers that must be addressed to ensure that earlier intervention benefits populations equitably.

Abu Dhabi connects EARLIER INSIGHT WITH ACTION BEYOND HEALTHCARE

Representing the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, H.E Dr Ahmed AlKhazraji, Executive Director of Healthy Living, shared how the emirate is putting prevention into practice through its Healthy Living Strategy. Abu Dhabi is combining its health data and life sciences capabilities with cross-sector initiatives in the everyday settings that shape choices, including communities, workplaces and schools.

H.E. Dr Ahmed AlKhazraji said: “The ability to identify risk earlier is a major advance, but insight alone will not improve health. We need to act on the factors that influence health long before someone enters a clinic. In Abu Dhabi, that means working across government and with the private sector to make healthier choices more accessible, from the food people encounter in supermarkets and restaurants to the opportunities for children to eat well and be active at school. This is how prevention moves from ambition to delivery at population scale”.

Abu Dhabi’s approach is also featured in Future Health’s latest white paper, The Future of Healthy Living: A $16.4 Trillion Opportunity, which draws on research showing that 19 of the 23 drivers shaping health sit outside the formal healthcare system. The paper sets out five-step framework governments can use to turn healthy living ambitions into coordinated action.

A year-round platform for global health collaboration

Moderated by Hadley Gamble, Chief International Anchor at IMI, the dialogue explored Future Health’s 2026 theme, ‘To Sense is to Predict’.

Future Health is a year-round global platform bringing together governments, innovators, researchers, and investors to help develop and scale health solutions. The UNGA dialogue forms part of its global programme of convenings.

H.E. Dr Ahmed AlKhazraji added: “We invite leaders from across the global health ecosystem to continue this conversation at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit from 20-22 October 2026.”

Ministers and senior government representatives included:

H.E. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister of Health of Indonesia; H.E. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health of Guyana; and H.E. Col. Assa Badiallo Touré, Minister of Health and Social Development of Mali. Other senior government representatives included H.E. Dr. Maha Barakat, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE; H.E. Dr Yvan Butera, Minister of State for Health of Rwanda; Dr. Carlos Alberto Pinto de Sousa, Secretary of State for Public Health of Angola; Laura Rissanen, State Secretary to the Minister of Social Security of Finland; Petra Noreback, State Secretary for Health and Social Affairs of Sweden; and Mr. Rabeson Christian, Director of Cabinet, Ministry of Health, Madagascar.

Senior representatives from international organisations and the wider health ecosystem included:

Hon. Dr. Zeyana Abdallah Hamid (MP), Vice Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and HIV/AIDS and Member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU); Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization; Dr. Raji Tajudeen, Acting Deputy Director General of Africa CDC; Valerie Boulet, Chief Development Officer of the WHO Foundation; Dr. Ola Abualghaib, Director of the UN Global Disability Fund; Greg Kuzmak, Director, Health at the Rockefeller Foundation; Dr. Awele Elumelu, Chairperson of Avon Healthcare Limited; and Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and CEO, Burjeel Holdings, UAE, and Associate Partner of Future Health.

ABOUT FUTURE HEALTH – A GLOBAL INITIATIVE BY ABU DHABI

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.  

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all. 

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences.  

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners: PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner. 

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae  

A new whitepaper by Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute, estimates that eliminating modifiable health risks could deliver substantial health and economic benefits

• Under a full risk-elimination scenario, annual global GDP could be USD 16.4 trillion higher in 2050, equivalent to 9% of projected global GDP.
• Analysis finds that eliminating modifiable behavioural, metabolic and environmental risk factors could avert an estimated 1.5 billion disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally and add 12 years to global healthy life expectancy at birth in 2050.
• The 1.5 billion DALYs are equivalent to approximately 47 percent of projected global disease burden in 2050.
• The whitepaper sets out a five-step framework for governments to turn healthy-living ambitions into coordinated action, presenting Abu Dhabi’s Healthy Living Strategy as a practical example of government-wide, whole-of-society delivery.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 23 September 2026: Addressing behavioural, metabolic and environmental health risks could generate an estimated $16.4 trillion in annual global GDP uplift in 2050. These findings are presented in The Future of Healthy Living: A $16.4 Trillion Opportunity, a new whitepaper co-authored by Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi, the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) and Healthy Living at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, and released on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) in New York.

The publication comes as governments look to translate the UN Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, adopted in December 2025, into national action. The whitepaper contributes to this wider global agenda by quantifying the health and economic opportunity of healthy living and providing governments with a practical framework for implementation.

H.E. Dr. Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “As people live longer and the burden of non-communicable diseases continues to rise, the way we think about health must evolve. We need a system that can anticipate risk, intervene earlier and create the conditions for people to remain healthy throughout their lives.”

Under a modelled scenario where all modifiable health risks were eliminated, 1.5 billion disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) could be averted in 2050, equivalent to approximately 47 percent of projected global disease burden. A DALY represents one year of full health lost through illness, disability or premature death. Compared with the baseline forecast for 2050, eliminating risks included in the analysis could add 12 years to average global healthy life expectancy at birth.

The whitepaper presents new analysis from MHI, illustrating how improving population health can deliver benefits that extend beyond the individual, with the potential to strengthen economic participation and productivity at scale.

The analysis also finds substantial differences in the share of disease burden attributable to modifiable risk factors across countries, including for India (49%), the USA (45%), Germany (42%), Italy (40%), and Japan (35%), with potential GDP uplift varying depending on local conditions and progress already underway, among other factors. These findings reinforce the need for healthy living strategies tailored to local priorities.

Lars Hartenstein, Partner and Director of Healthy Longevity at McKinsey Health Institute, said: “The opportunity to improve health outcomes at scale has never been greater. Our analysis demonstrates that addressing modifiable risk factors could add years of healthy life while strengthening economic participation and productivity. Achieving that impact will require coordinated action across sectors to address the wider factors that influence health every day, from where people live and work to how they learn and connect.”

The whitepaper argues that healthy living cannot be delivered by healthcare systems alone. Previous research from MHI shows that, of the 23 drivers identified as shaping health, 19 sit outside the formal healthcare system, [1] spanning areas such as education, transport, urban planning, food, technology, employment and community development.

The whitepaper makes the case for healthy living as a societal priority, requiring different sectors to work together to create environments that support healthier lives, and proposes a five-step framework for governments: set a clear ambition; identify the greatest health and economic opportunities; design a coordinated portfolio of measures; implement and scale effective measures; and use data and feedback to learn and adapt.

Examples in the whitepaper include Japan’s long-term Health Japan 21 initiative, Finland’s use of population data, Singapore’s technology-enabled national physical-activity programme, and Abu Dhabi’s Population Health Intelligence platform and cross-government Healthy Living Strategy.

Launched in November 2025, Abu Dhabi’s Healthy Living Strategy provides a government-wide framework for coordinated action across the emirate. Healthy Living at the Department of Health Abu Dhabi leads and orchestrates its implementation, working with government entities, businesses and communities across more than 28 initiatives spanning food environments, schools, workplaces, physical activity and preventive healthcare. Guided by data and behavioural science, this whole-of-society approach aims to reshape everyday environments so healthier choices are easier and more accessible, while preserving individual choice. The whitepaper presents Abu Dhabi’s experience as a practical example of how governments can translate healthy-living ambitions into coordinated delivery, offering lessons that can inform action in different national contexts.

H.E. Dr. Ahmed AlKhazraji, Executive Director of Healthy Living at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Our focus is on turning this shared ambition into practical changes that people can see and experience in their daily lives. Early progress includes new nutrition and physical-activity requirements in schools, healthier supermarket and restaurant environments, the introduction of the Nutri-Mark front-of-pack labelling system, responsible public food and beverage advertising. These are important milestones, but lasting impact will depend on shared accountability, using data and behavioural science to understand what works, and adapting as we learn. By sharing those lessons internationally, we hope to support wider action on NCD prevention and healthy living.”

The whitepaper also identifies five shifts that could help healthy living scale globally, spanning science, measurement, technology, economic incentives and social support. It argues that progress will also require stronger mechanisms for governments and businesses to learn from one another, compare evidence and develop shared approaches that can accelerate action across countries and sectors.

The whitepaper forms part of Future Health’s Abu Dhabi Blueprints series examining the future of health. Its themes will be explored through Future Health’s international programme and at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20-22 October 2026.

The full whitepaper can be downloaded here: The Future of Healthy Living – A $16.4 trillion opportunity – Future Health

*END*

About Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi

Future Health is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.  

Bringing together health researchers, policymakers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from across disciplines and geographies, Future Health drives collective action to strengthen health systems and unlock longer, healthier lives for all. 

Through a year-round programme of research insights, publications, impact initiatives, Challenges, R&D funding, and cross-sector convenings, Future Health advances progress across four focus areas: longevity and precision medicine, health systems and sustainability, digital health and AI, and investment in life sciences.  

Future Health is curated and convened by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and its Founding Partners: PureHealth, M42, Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, and Mubadala Bio. Mediclinic Middle East serves as Strategic Partner and Burjeel Holdings as Associate Partner. 

For more information, visit www.futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠ and follow Future Health on: X, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

For media inquiries, please contact media@futurehealthinitiative.ae  

About McKinsey Health Institute

The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is an enduring, non-profit-generating institute within McKinsey & Company, founded on the conviction that, over the next decade, humanity could add as much as 45 billion extra years of higher-quality life. Its mission is to catalyze the actions and investment needed across continents, sectors, and communities to realize this possibility, working with a robust ecosystem of organizations to convene and activate leaders, advance research, create and promote data and tools, and stimulate investment and innovation across historically underinvested areas of health.

For more information, visit https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/overview

For media inquiries, please contact mhi@mckinsey.com

[1] McKinsey Health Institute. (2023). Table 1: The healthy 23 drivers. McKinsey & Company.

(Media Alert: 7 July 2026): Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi announced that it has joined the BioConvergence Cancer Alliance as a Founding Member. Established by the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Alliance brings together leading organisations committed together with academia to accelerate progress in cancer care, research and innovation.

The announcement, which took place on the sidelines of BIO International Convention 2026 in San Diego, marks a significant step in strengthening collaboration between the world’s leading cancer research institutions and Future Health’s ecosystem.

Increasingly, progress against complex diseases such as cancer is being driven through collaborations with healthcare and government organisations, researchers, innovators, and industry partners joining forces to share expertise, accelerate scientific discovery, and translate research into actionable real-world impact.  

While cancer remains a leading cause of deaths worldwide, approximately 38% of cancers can currently be prevented by avoiding risk factors and implementing existing evidence-based prevention strategies, with additional lives saved through early detection.

As a Founding Member of the Alliance, Future Health will support efforts to strengthen international collaboration and foster growth in areas including cancer research, precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and next-generation healthcare technologies.

The collaboration reflects growing recognition that tackling cancer requires greater cross-sector work to accelerate innovation and improve patient outcomes. Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi is a platform for global collaboration that convenes stakeholders across policy, research, investment and industry to accelerate collaboration, advance innovation and shape the future of health systems.

The collaboration also highlights the increasing role the Middle East region plays in advancing global healthcare innovation, with Abu Dhabi continuing to invest in research, life sciences and partnerships that are designed to support the development of future-ready health systems.