A new World Economic Forum paper spotlights Abu Dhabi’s intelligent health system as a global model for data-driven, preventive healthcare transformation.
DAVOS: The World Economic Forum has positioned Abu Dhabi at the forefront of global healthcare transformation with the release of a new white paper titled “A New Era for Digital Health: Abu Dhabi’s Leap to Health Intelligence.” Published ahead of the Forum’s 2026 Annual Meeting, the paper recognises Abu Dhabi’s unified, intelligent health infrastructure as a world-leading example of system-wide innovation.
The report outlines how Abu Dhabi integrates clinical, genomic, financial, environmental, and lifestyle data into a single architecture to support preventive care, early diagnosis, and sustainable health outcomes. This holistic system now connects over 3,000 healthcare facilities and processes 3.5 billion clinical records and 2 billion insurance claims using AI-powered tools.
Abu Dhabi’s commitment to building “intelligence as infrastructure” is compared to public utilities such as electricity or broadband — essential backbones enabling health resilience. The paper details how this approach has led to a 30% improvement in heart attack response times and enabled faster, more personalised cancer detection pathways.
Central to this progress is the Emirati Genome Programme, with over 850,000 genomes sequenced to date, making it one of the most advanced national initiatives globally. By integrating over 100,000 live data streams, Abu Dhabi’s model demonstrates what is possible when innovation is scaled across an entire population.
Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, emphasised the emirate’s system-wide commitment, saying, “Health system intelligence lays the foundation that enables prevention and personalised health to become a reality at the population level.”
The white paper, co-authored with Microsoft, M42, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and others, also serves as a practical guide for policymakers and health system leaders aiming to replicate Abu Dhabi’s success in other regions.
