Abu Dhabi is investing in the future of longevity. But is healthcare ready?

At Abu Dhabi’s Future Health Summit, visitors tested their balance and coordination in augmented-reality games, took AI-assisted health screenings and explored technologies intended to improve disease detection. From robotic assistance to advanced diagnostics, the demonstrations offered a glimpse of tools that could change clinical practice.

But behind the futuristic displays was a pursuit that has occupied scientists for centuries: the quest for longevity. Only this time, the ambition was not simply to extend human life, but to ensure that those additional years can be lived in good health.

The distinction is between lifespan and what medical practitioners call healthspan. As populations age and chronic diseases become more prevalent, healthcare systems are beginning to rethink a model built largely around treating illness rather than preventing it.

In the UAE, the need for that shift is becoming increasingly clear. More than half of adults have high cholesterol, one in four has high blood pressure and more than one in five is obese, according to the latest national health survey. Meanwhile, diseases including heart disease, diabetes and cancer account for an estimated 55% of deaths in the country, with cardiovascular disease alone responsible for 34%, costing the emirate $10.86 billion per year. Yet many of these conditions are preventable, or can be delayed through early detection and intervention.

For Abu Dhabi, the challenge is translating advances in medical science into better health outcomes. Through investments in genomics, artificial intelligence, specialized clinics and regulatory frameworks, the emirate is laying the foundations for a healthcare system capable of identifying disease risks long before symptoms appear. But making that a reality requires more than technology. It demands a fundamental shift in how medicine is practiced, how hospitals operate and how patients engage with their own health.

“It is a change in mindset—not just among doctors, but among patients and hospitals too,” said Dr. Mohammed Fityan, Group Chief Officer at Burjeel Holdings. “You shouldn’t have to wait until you’re sick to see a healthcare provider. Healthcare providers should be able to help reduce your chances of developing disease with the right preventative intervention.”

How Healthcare is evolving 

At the center of this shift is precision medicine, which combines genetic information, biomarkers and lifestyle data with AI to assess individual health risks and personalize treatment.

At Burjeel, AI is helping connect these different sources of data, identifying patterns and relationships that might otherwise go unnoticed. The insights can help physicians predict how patients may respond to medications, guide treatment decisions and tailor cancer care.

“We want to know which treatment is most appropriate for the individual patient in front of us,” Fityan said. “AI can bring these enormous datasets together and can help generate more useful clinical predictions, and potentially avoid the loss of valuable time on an ineffective treatment.”

That approach is also moving beyond treating existing conditions. Last month, Burjeel Holdings launched a Lifestyle and Longevity Clinic that combines individual health assessments with ongoing monitoring, using patients’ age, medical history, lifestyle and risk factors to develop tailored care plans and intervene before health problems become more serious.

“In some cases, we can identify risks before the age of 18,” Fityan said, pointing to conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are associated with more than 200 complications. With the UAE recording some of the world’s highest rates of both conditions, prevention is becoming a priority. “If we identify the problem early and intervene appropriately, we may prevent it from progressing.”

Across Abu Dhabi, similar efforts are taking shape. The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi has introduced a dedicated regulatory framework for licensing Healthy Longevity Medicine Centres. Among the first facilities licensed under the framework is the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi. Rather than focusing on individual diseases, the institute is targeting the biological processes of aging itself, combining advanced diagnostics, AI and lifestyle medicine to help people remain physically and mentally healthy for longer.

“We’re not claiming people will live forever. It’s about helping people live healthier lives and compress the time spent in frailty at the end of life. If we do everything right, perhaps people will live a few years longer,” said Dr. Rory Melville, medical director of the Institute for Healthier Living.

That ambition is becoming increasingly important as the UAE faces a demographic shift that could place growing demands on its healthcare system. Life expectancy now exceeds 80 years, and by 2050, nearly two million residents are projected to be aged 60 or older. Incorporating AI across medicine is expected to alleviate healthcare systems worldwide, generating $600 billion  in global healthcare savings, according to Morgan Stanley. 

Prevention starts with people

Yet building a preventive healthcare system also depends on whether patients understand their health risks and act on them.

As more people turn to chatbots, wearables and AI-powered tools to manage their health, experts are raising concerns about their ability to interpret the information. According to the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, 59% of UAE residents use AI to help manage their health or make medical decisions.

“Wearables can track changes, but people still need to understand their significance and assess the advice they encounter online,” said Arda Arat, General Manager, Gulf Near East at Haleon. “Closing that gap requires clearer information and stronger connections between digital tools and healthcare professionals.”

Poor health literacy, or the inability to understand health information and make informed medical decisions, also carries a significant economic cost. A study by Haleon and Economist Impact found that people who struggle to interpret medical information face healthcare costs nearly three times higher than those who can make informed health decisions.

In the UAE, improving health literacy by 25% could save as much as $2.3 billion annually. Some of the highest costs are associated with preventable conditions, with the report estimating that better prevention of tooth decay could save $572 million in lifetime costs. Anemia, musculoskeletal conditions among women and air pollution also carry significant economic burdens.

“Responsible self-care has an important role to play,” Arat said. “Prevention works best when it becomes part of everyday life. The goal should be to create an environment where people are supported to make informed health decisions early.”

That requires more than individual effort. According to Arat, pharmacies, healthcare providers, employers and community organizations all have a role in making health information accessible and encouraging earlier intervention.

“The greatest opportunity is to bring these efforts together, so people receive consistent, practical guidance. That is how prevention becomes part of everyday life,” he added.

But patients are not only consumers of medical information. Their participation is also essential to the research underpinning whether the medicine will work. 

That presents another challenge, according to Paul Downey, general manager of M42’s Abu Dhabi Biobank. ” People with existing conditions are often more willing to contribute to medical research, because they’re concerned,” Downey explained.

“It’s harder to recruit  healthy people, young healthy people,” Downey said. 

That gap matters in the pursuit of preventive medicine, where studying healthy populations could offer insights into the origins of illness and the factors that shape long-term health.

In April 2026, M42 inaugurated the Abu Dhabi Biobank, with capacity to store five million biological samples. By connecting biological samples with genomic, clinical and lifestyle data, the facility aims to help researchers identify early signs of disease and better understand how people age.

AI is everywhere. Integration isn’t

According to Dr. Mujtaba Ali Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Burjeel Medical City and Group Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at Burjeel Holdings Hospitals, they also need the physical infrastructure to scale the technology. 

“Scaling AI still remains very fragmented. It is the root of a lot of the problems,” he said. “You can have the right systems in place to integrate the technology, but it will die without correct utilization.” He added. 

“The challenge standing between ambition and delivery is ensuring AI fits into existing clinical workflows,” said Rohan Sawhney, Partner in Life Sciences and Healthcare at Deloitte Middle East. 

For AI to scale, Sawhney argued, data must be simplified and made accessible through the systems clinicians already use, rather than introducing additional platforms that complicate their work.

Building the ecosystem 

Despite the challenges, investment in the Gulf’s healthcare transformation shows little sign of slowing. Abu Dhabi’s Health, Endurance, Longevity and Medicine (HELM) cluster is expected to attract $11.5 billion in investment by 2045, targeting AI, genomics and precision medicine, while creating an estimated 30,000 jobs.

For Dr. Rory Melville, what sets Abu Dhabi apart is the government’s ambition to rethink healthcare from the ground up, with input from doctors, patients and regulators.

“This is about changing the foundations of healthcare to make prevention a priority. The ambition is being driven by the government, but the approach involves everyone across the healthcare system,” Melville said.

For Abu Dhabi, the investment represents a broader economic bet: that preventing disease earlier could reduce healthcare costs, ease pressure on hospitals and keep people healthier and more productive for longer.

The emirate is investing billions in the future of medicine. The real test is whether it can turn that investment into more years of good health.