Today's Edition
SAN FRANCISCO (WAM)
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 Dh39.9 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.
Dr Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Under-Secretary 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 20-22 October 2026.
