• 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.

• The inaugural Abu Dhabi Blueprint explores how Abu Dhabi is building a longevity-first health ecosystem focussed on extending healthy years of life through precision medicine, AI, and prevention.
• The whitepaper supports Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi’s mission to accelerate global innovation across longevity and precision health, one of its core thematic focus areas.
• Unveiled on the sidelines of BIO International Convention 2026, the report shared Abu Dhabi’s approach to longevity and health innovation with a global life sciences audience.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 24 June 2026 – Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi has released a new whitepaper titled “The Future of Longevity: Extending Healthspan – How Abu Dhabi is building a longevity-first health ecosystem”, and is focused on one of the defining global health challenges of our time: how to help people live longer, healthier lives.

Launched at the Future Health Dialogue held on the sidelines of the BIO International Convention 2026 in San Diego, the whitepaper highlights how breakthroughs in genomics, biomarker monitoring, artificial intelligence, and precision medicine hold the potential to bridge the gap between lifespan and healthspan – the number of years lived in good health.

Health systems worldwide are facing a growing challenge. While people are living longer, those additional years are not always lived in good health. Globally, up to 27% of additional years of life can be lived in poor health. In the UAE, non-communicable diseases account for approximately 55% of deaths and impose an estimated annual economic cost of AED39.9 billion, equivalent to 2.7% of the UAE’s 2019 GDP.

Against this backdrop, the whitepaper presents Abu Dhabi’s longevity-first model as a practical framework for prevention, prediction, and personalised care. It identifies four interconnected areas that can help health systems extend healthspan: precision longevity medicine, regenerative and advanced therapeutics, citizen empowerment, including tools and environments that support healthier daily choices, and ecosystem and innovation infrastructure.

Her Excellency Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “We are at a pivotal moment for the future of health. Advances in science, data, and technology are opening new possibilities not simply to extend life, but to extend the number of years people live in good health. The opportunity now is to ensure that health systems are ready to translate these advances into meaningful outcomes.”

“Abu Dhabi’s strength lies in the way it connects policy, data, genomics, clinical innovation, and investment within one health ecosystem. Through this whitepaper, Future Health is sharing our approach with the world, and contributing practical insights that can help the next generation of health systems become more predictive, preventive, and personalised,” she added  

The report highlights existing national infrastructure within Abu Dhabi’s health ecosystem, including the Emirati Genome Programme with its ambition to sequence one million genomes, and Malaffi, Abu Dhabi’s health information exchange connecting more than 2,700 healthcare providers.

Beyond healthcare infrastructure and scientific innovation, the whitepaper argues that extending healthy years of life will depend on empowering citizens to take a more active role in managing their health.

New consumer data revealed in the whitepaper also shares that the foundations for this shift are already emerging across the GCC. According to EY research, 61% of respondents use wearable devices to monitor their health, and 55% said AI-based information had prompted them to seek care earlier. These findings reflect the growing shift towards predictive health, aligning with Future Health’s 2026 theme, ‘To Sense is to Predict’, which explores how earlier insights can enable earlier intervention and better health outcomes.

Fadi Smeirat, EY MENA Healthcare Life Sciences Consulting Leader, said: “Health systems around the world are faced with the same challenge: how to ensure longer lives are also healthier lives. What makes Abu Dhabi particularly compelling is the way that it brings together policy, data, genomics, clinical innovation and investment into a single ecosystem. This whitepaper highlights how these capabilities can work together to support a more predictive and personalised approach to healthcare.”

Developed by Future Health and its Partners, in collaboration with EY, the whitepaper advances Future Health’s mission to accelerate global innovation across longevity and precision health, one of its core thematic focus areas.

The Future of Longevity whitepaper forms part of Future Health’s Abu Dhabi Blueprints, a series examining the future of health through areas of emerging expertise and innovation in Abu Dhabi. The themes explored in the whitepaper will be advanced through Future Health’s year-round programme, and at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20 to 22 October 2026.

The full whitepaper can be downloaded here.

Global teams recognised in the Future Health Challenge for solutions designed to detect health risks earlier and support faster health system decisions

• Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi and MIT Solve announce the winners of the inaugural Future Health Challenge
• Winning solution equips frontline health workers in low-resource settings with mobile clinical decision-support tools, enabling earlier detection and more effective care delivery
• Teams competed for a USD 200,000 grand prize and two USD 50,000 runner-up awards on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva
• Winners recognised for solutions advancing anticipatory, data-driven health systems

Geneva, Switzerland, 22 May 2026: Three global teams developing early detection and real-time population health monitoring solutions have secured a total of USD 300,000 on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly. The winning solutions address critical challenges in early detection, continuous population insight and more timely decision making, signalling a shift in health systems from late-stage treatment to earlier intervention.

Selected from 393 submissions across 68 countries, the winning teams were recognised through the inaugural ‘Future Health Challenge 2026: Building Anticipatory Health Systems through Population Sensing’, delivered by Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi in collaboration with MIT Solve.

Health systems globally are facing rising costs and persistent delays in diagnosis, with many conditions still identified only after symptoms become severe. At the same time, access to prevention remains unequal, with underserved communities often facing the greatest barriers to early screening and timely care, as well as reliable health information. The Future Health Challenge focused on solutions designed to detect health risks sooner, monitor population-level data, and support faster decision-making by health authorities.

Five finalist teams presented their solutions to an international audience spanning global health, philanthropy, investment, technology and life sciences, with the judging team awarding prizes to the following teams:

• ThinkMD, Australia
  USD 200,000, Winner
  ThinkMD equips frontline health workers with mobile clinical decision-support tools that improve triage, treatment, and referral, while turning routine care encounters into real-time population health signals. The platform is already used by more than 9,000 frontline workers across 885 facilities, with the platform’s ability to act as an early warning system demonstrated through previously detected symptom patterns preceding a cholera outbreak in Zambia.
• Vector Control Innovations, United States
  USD 50,000, Distinguished Finalist
  VectorCam uses AI-enabled mosquito surveillance to detect changing vector risks earlier, helping health systems target interventions before outbreaks escalate. Field evaluations of VectorCam’s impact have shown clear improvements in both efficiency and data quality, with evaluations showing data completeness increasing from around 60% to over 90%.
• Huna, Brazil
  USD 50,000, Distinguished Finalist
  Huna applies AI to routine blood test data to identify people at elevated cancer risk earlier and guide them into appropriate screening and care pathways. In Brazil, its pilots have screened more than 500,000 patients, and across all deployments to date, hundreds of cancer cases have been detected, many of which would likely have been found later when treatment is more complex and expensive.

Delivered in collaboration with MIT Solve, the Future Health Challenge is part of Future Health’s year-round programme of activities designed to identify and champion high-potential talent globally, connecting innovators with funding, partnerships and pathways to scale solutions that advance longer, healthier lives.

Dr. Jackie Rabec, Co-Founder of ThinkMD, said: “We are thrilled to be the recipients of this award, and we are excited to be able to use it to scale our impact. Our next stage of growth will be expanding in priority markets across Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Somalia, validate our next generation multimodal conversational interface and furthering our self-care product to deliver health intelligence into the hands of citizens”.

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, when treatment is more complex and outcomes are worse. Solutions from the Future Health 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.”

Hala Hanna, Executive Director of MIT Solve, said: “The solutions emerging from this Challenge reflect both the urgency and the opportunity facing health systems globally. By bringing innovators together with policymakers, funders and implementers through platforms such as Future Health, we can help accelerate solutions that are locally grounded and capable of delivering impact at scale.”

MIT Solve has more than a decade of experience in delivering global innovation challenges across health, climate, learning and economic prosperity. To date, MIT Solve has mobilised over USD 80 million in funding for innovators worldwide, with supported solutions reaching more than 370 million lives.

The Challenge forms part of Future Health’s purpose to identify and support innovations that improve health outcomes. Beyond prize funding, participating teams will be connected to partners, investors and health authorities to support the next phase of development and adoption.

Representatives from finalist, semi-finalist and selected Honourable Mention teams will also be invited to showcase their innovations at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20 to 22 October 2026.

Future Health continues to advance a year-round programme across longevity and precision medicine, intelligent health and AI, health system resilience and sustainability, and investment in life sciences, to empower better health worldwide. The platform will continue to introduce new opportunities for global collaboration and discovery of impactful solutions throughout the year.

For more information about the Future Health Challenge and upcoming programme milestones, visit https://futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠

• Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi and MIT Solve announce five finalists in the Future Health Challenge 2026
• 393 submissions from 68 countries reflect growing global momentum  towards predictive, population-based healthcare
• The Five finalists will present at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, competing for a total of USD 300,000

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 08 April 2026: As health systems worldwide face rising pressure from chronic disease, ageing populations and limited access to early detection, Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi has announced the five finalists for the Future Health Challenge: ‘Building Anticipatory Health Systems through Population Sensing’. 

The competition, launched by Future Health in February 2026 in collaboration with MIT Solve, provides a platform to discover high-potential solutions from global innovators to advance earlier detection of health risks, continuous population insight, and grow and scale more anticipatory, data-driven models of care. Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi is a year-round platform for global collaboration and transformative health innovation, uniting science, policy, innovation, and investment to create accessible, resilient health systems.

With 393 submissions from across 68 countries, the Challenge reflects growing global momentum towards predictive and preventive approaches to health. The range of applications highlights a diverse and evolving landscape of innovation, spanning geographies, sectors and contexts. Following a multi-stage evaluation process, including virtual pitches and live Q&A sessions with ten semi-finalists, the final five teams were selected for their ability to translate complex data into actionable health insight and demonstrate relevance across a variety of health system settings.

The selected finalists reflect the breadth of innovation shaping the future of anticipatory health, spanning five continents and a mix of scalable approaches:

• SOIK Corporation (Japan), SPAQ, a community-led model using AI to detect maternal risk in fragile settings
• Huna (Brazil), Huna Cancer Navigator, applying AI to routine blood data to support early cancer detection and patient engagement
• ThinkMD (Australia), a digital platform enabling better frontline care and generating real-time public health intelligence
• Vector Control Innovations (United States), VectorCam, an AI-enabled mosquito surveillance system supporting predictive response in low-resource settings
• Arkangel AI (Colombia), Unread Signal, software transforming clinical notes into early warning signals across more than 300 hospitals in 11 countries

Semi-finalists presented their solutions to a panel of six expert judges: Dr. Asma Al Mannaei, Executive Director of Health and Life Sciences Sector at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, Dr. Erik Jaap Koornneef, Executive Director of Research at the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, Dr. Maaz Shaikh, Vice President of Product Management at M42, a representative from Mubadala BIO, Ms. Uliana Shchepelina, Director of Strategy at PureHealth, and Dr. Mohammed Al Bitar, Advisor for Health and Life Sciences Sector at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi. 

Finalist teams will present their solutions at a live pitching session during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on 19 May 2026, where an overall winner and two runner-up teams will be selected. The Challenge will award a USD 200,000 grand prize, alongside two USD 50,000 runner-up awards as well as access to a global network of policymakers, investors and health leaders.

Dr. Asma Al Mannaei, Executive Director of the Health and Life Sciences Sector at the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi, said: “What we are seeing today is a fundamental shift in how health systems can operate, from responding to illness to understanding risk earlier and acting sooner. These finalists reflect the next generation of solutions that make this shift possible at scale. Through Future Health, Abu Dhabi is not only convening global innovation, but actively shaping how it translates into real-world systems that deliver measurable impact.”

Hala Hanna, Executive Director of MIT Solve, said: “The scale and diversity of submissions reflect a shared global urgency to rethink how health systems detect and respond to risk. These finalists demonstrate how locally grounded solutions can inform transformation at a global level.”

MIT Solve brings a decade of experience running global open innovation challenges across health, climate, learning and economic prosperity, having mobilised over USD 80 million for innovators worldwide and supported solutions reaching more than 370 million lives. Notably, 94 percent of Solve-supported teams selected between 2020 and 2024 remain operational today.

The collaboration with MIT Solve forms part of Future Health’s broader year-round programme of activities, which convenes stakeholders across innovation, policy, and investment to advance collaboration and co-create the future of health. Future Health supports the development and scaling of new approaches to health systems, with additional initiatives and opportunities for global engagement to be introduced throughout the year. 

The following semi-finalist teams are also recognised for their high-potential solutions:

• Quantitative Engineering Design / QED.ai (Malawi), ScanForm, an AI solution digitising handwritten epidemic data in real time
• Nabta Health (United Arab Emirates), Sovereign Workforce Health, an AI-powered clinical risk detection model embedded within insured populations
• eSHIFT Partner Network (Switzerland), FacilityPulse, an open-source AI toolkit converting citizen reviews into actionable health intelligence
• The Antara Foundation (India), Anugami, a digital intelligence layer connecting health systems around women and children
• Environmental Women Organisation (Colombia), Ethnohealth AI, an indigenous early warning system integrating traditional medicine into predictive health intelligence

Ten Honourable Mention teams from Nepal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, the United States, India, Thailand, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates have also been recognised for their contributions.

Representatives from semi-finalist and selected Honourable Mention teams will be invited to showcase their innovations at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, taking place from 20 to 22 October 2026, providing direct access to global policymakers, investors and health leaders.

As Future Health continues to expand its global network, policymakers, innovators, investors, and researchers are invited to join this movement of shared progress, and contribute to shaping the future of more predictive, preventive, and inclusive health systems for all.
For more information about the Future Health Challenge and upcoming programme milestones, visit https://futurehealthinitiative.ae⁠

Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi, has revealed its 2026 theme, To Sense is to Predict, reflecting how systems are shifting towards personalised and predictive healthcare grounded in early awareness and data-led insights.

To Sense is to Predict reflects a fundamental shift in how we approach health, moving away from reactive models of care to approaches grounded in early awareness, continuous sensing, and integrated data. It frames health protection as a proactive process, where risks are identified and addressed before they escalate, to support longer, healthier lives for people everywhere.

Chronic diseases are expected to contribute 47 trillion USD in global costs by 2030, and nearly half of the world’s population lacks full access to essential health services, limiting the reach of early detection. Social-sensing and low-tech mechanisms can extend coverage and enable action where resources are limited, while high-tech sensing can identify risks before complications arise. Together these approaches can support more affordable and equitable prediction models, and help reduce avoidable costs.

His Excellency Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “By strengthening how health signals are sensed and interpreted, we can move from disease-based treatment to health-focused prevention with greater confidence, supporting more resilient systems and improved outcomes for communities around the world.”

For individuals, sensors can help to identify changes in health to delay or prevent disease. Personal wearable technology like rings, bands, or monitoring devices, and digital platforms which increasingly capture real-time physiological and behavioural data are helping to provide more usable and personalised guidance.

At the population level, sensing incorporates the detection and interpretation of physiological signals, biological markers, community behaviours, and environmental conditions that indicate changes in well-being. These signals can then inform more advanced health prediction and prevention.

“By embracing the potential of sensing technologies, Future Health places innovation in the service of humanity, enabling a future where longer, healthier lives are a reality for all.” continued Al Mansoori.

Guided by the 2026 theme, Future Health will advance a year-round program across four interconnected impact areas:

• Longevity and Precision Medicine: Advancing personalised approaches to health by harnessing advanced diagnostics, data analytics and emerging medical technologies to address health challenges with unprecedented accuracy and support longer, healthier lives.
• Digital Health & AI: Leveraging data-driven insights, predictive analytics and intelligent technologies to empower clinicians, policymakers, and individuals, making care more proactive, tailored, and accessible.
• Health System Resilience & Sustainability: Strengthening health systems to maintain equity, withstand disruption, and deliver continuous, high-quality care in the face of evolving health and environmental challenges.
• Investment in Life Sciences: Accelerating responsible innovation by supporting cutting-edge research, diagnostics and treatments that improve health outcomes while driving long-term economic growth.

Alongside its continuous program of projects, including innovation challenges, research and policy outputs, stakeholder dialogues, and impact-led projects, the Future Health Summit, its annual flagship gathering will take place later this year at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi, and bring global leaders together to advance dialogue, collaboration, and action.

Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi’ has announced the launch of the ‘Future Health Challenge: Building Anticipatory Health Systems through Population Sensing’, in collaboration with MIT Solve.

Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi (Future Health) has been launched by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), marking the transformation of Abu Dhabi Global Health Week into a year-round platform of international health collaboration, action and innovation.

Representing a shift from an annual convening to a continuous, connected global ecosystem of ideas, investment and action, Future Health will come to life through initiatives including the co-creation of programmes that can test and scale solutions, research programmes to address critical needs, and regular global gatherings and dialogue sessions to build a collaborative, cross-sector approach to health solutions.

Future Health will unite leaders across policy, technology, research, philanthropy and investment to design, fund and scale solutions that shape a future where longer, healthier lives are a reality for all. The platform marks a shift beyond annual gatherings toward a continuous, connected ecosystem of ideas, investment and action, enabling sustained global collaboration and impact.

Anchored in Abu Dhabi’s leadership in healthcare innovation and artificial intelligence, Future Health will focus on four main themes: Longevity and Precision Health, Health System Resilience and Sustainability, Digital Health and AI, and Investment in Life Sciences.

Future Health will also convene its annual flagship event, the Future Health Summit in Abu Dhabi, from 7-9 April 2026 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi.

Through its programmes and partnerships, Future Health will drive measurable outcomes by translating commitment into impact. The initiative will co-create and scale solutions to address pressing health challenges, conduct foresight research to identify future priorities, and facilitate regular global dialogues that foster cross-sector collaboration. It will also publish impact reports and studies that capture key developments in the global health landscape.

His Excellency Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Future Health is a global invitation to collaborate year-round in shaping a healthier future for all. It transforms commitment into action by connecting the brightest minds and strongest partners to deliver meaningful impact for communities worldwide.

“With the world facing increasingly complex health issues, this initiative enables borderless collaboration and fosters connections around the technologies, policies and commitments needed to unlock longer, healthier lives for all.”

To translate its vision into tangible outcomes, Future Health will advance pioneering scientific projects and clinical practices in longevity medicine by integrating cutting-edge research in genomics and precision diagnostics, proactively contributing towards enhancing the span of human health.

Her Excellency Dr Noura Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “Future Health builds on Abu Dhabi’s position as a catalyst for global health progress. With advancements in genomics, AI, life sciences and precision medicine, we are shaping a model of health that is inclusive, innovative and sustainable.”

Building on the success of previous global health gatherings, Abu Dhabi has already convened more than 500 speakers from nearly 100 countries, welcomed more than 25,000 participants and launched the world’s first Declaration on Longevity and Precision Medicine. Abu Dhabi has also established one of only four global vaccine distribution hubs, strengthening equitable vaccine access and regional health security. Over the past two years, more than 50 agreements have been signed to advance clinical research, vaccine development and digital health innovation.

Founding partners of Future Health include M42, Mubadala Bio, PureHealth, and the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi (IHLAD), with Mediclinic joining as a strategic partner, and Burjeel Holdings as a thematic partner. These companies will contribute to the platform’s incubation and long-term commitments, forming the core of a diverse global coalition driving measurable health impact.

Through Future Health, Abu Dhabi is shaping a more connected and resilient global health ecosystem, driving innovation, investment and collaboration to deliver lasting impact for communities worldwide.

Originally published by Abu Dhabi Media Office – Press release