Abu Dhabi DoH, WEF to advance intelligent health systems and healthy longevity

At the World Economic Forum summit in Davos this year, two heavyweights in global health and policy announced a shift that could change how the world thinks about care. The Department of Health - Abu Dhabi teamed up with the World Economic Forum to push forward a vision of intelligent health systems and healthy longevity on a global scale. This isn't about another pilot project or tech buzzword. It's a serious bid to flip health systems from reactive to proactive.

Mansoor Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, put it plain and simple: "Today's health systems are rich in individual innovation but held back by silos and a traditionally reactive approach. ... Our goal is to build a personalised and proactive system that cares before it cures."

How will it work?

Here's the nuts and bolts of this effort:

• A partnership that scales: Abu Dhabi will act as a Global Pathfinder in the Forum's Digital Healthcare Transformation initiative, joining forces with more than 200 organizations spanning healthcare, technology, policy, and investment.
• Data at the core: The initiative connects clinical, genomic, lifestyle, and environmental data into a unified architecture. This lets systems spot risk early, prevent disease, and guide policy with hard evidence, not guesswork.
• Digital, AI, and intelligence: Rather than piecemeal digital tools, the partnership promotes intelligent health infrastructure that brings artificial intelligence into everyday diagnostics and decision-making at a system scale.
• Shared platforms, shared goals: The work dovetails with broader efforts like the Healthy Longevity Initiative and the Chief Health Officers Community to unify global thinking on prevention and resilience.

Think of it as building a brain for health systems. Instead of waiting for people to get sick and treating them one by one, this model anticipates risk, nudges prevention, and coordinates action at the population level.

Why does it matter?

Because health systems everywhere are stuck in the past, most still wait for the disease before intervening. That's expensive, inefficient, and leaves patients behind.

Now imagine a world where:

• Doctors know your risk profile long before symptoms appear
• Policymakers steer interventions with real-time data
• Resources focus on prevention, not costly emergency care

That's what Abu Dhabi and the WEF are pitching. Their white paper, A New Era for Digital Health: Abu Dhabi's Leap to Health Intelligence, acts as both a case study and a playbook for others. It shows how connecting massive datasets can help systems act early and act smart.

Shyam Bishen of the World Economic Forum captured the heart of it well: "Abu Dhabi's story is ultimately a human one: using connected data and responsible AI to predict risk earlier, prevent avoidable illness, and help people get the right care at the right time."

This doesn't just matter for Abu Dhabi. It's a model the rest of the world can learn from. Countries grappling with ageing populations, rising chronic disease, and strained budgets are desperate for smarter systems. What Abu Dhabi and its partners are building offers a blueprint and a clear case that prevention at scale is possible.

The context

This move fits a wider global push toward health transformation. The World Economic Forum has long stood at the intersection of public policy, tech innovation, and economic strategy. Its annual meetings in Davos bring leaders from around the globe to tackle big challenges, from climate change to economic inclusion. Health systems transformation is now firmly on that agenda.

Abu Dhabi's role is significant. It's not a fringe thinker in health tech anymore. Its health infrastructure now integrates massive amounts of data across clinical records, genomes, and lifestyle indicators — a rare feat on any scale. That achievement is now being shared across continents.

This collaboration signals a shifting global mindset. Countries are realizing that patchwork digital projects aren't enough. They need cohesive, interoperable systems backed by data, AI, and shared governance. Abu Dhabi's example, amplified through the Forum's network, could be the spark that pushes health systems into a new era.