Abu Dhabi calls for adopting a new approach to developing health systems during the World Economic Forum

Davos – Switzerland, January 22 / WAM / His Excellency Mansour Al Mansouri, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, called for the necessity of achieving a radical transformation in the design, governance and expansion of health systems, by moving from systems in which integration is absent and innovations are developed in isolation from each other to a comprehensive perspective based on health intelligence at the level of the system as a whole.

This came during His Excellency’s participation in the activities of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos.

During his speech during a dialogue session that brought together an elite group of global health leaders and titled “Health Care Needs New Ideas,” His Excellency Al Mansouri stressed that the pace of innovation in the health sector has accelerated, but the results have not yet lived up to this accelerating momentum, attributing this to the continued lack of integration in most health systems, and their continued focus on treatment rather than prevention.

His Excellency added: “There is no doubt that health is one of our most valuable assets, and if focus is placed on it, this will be reflected in the prosperity of economies and societies alike. From this standpoint, we in Abu Dhabi view health as a smart and integrated infrastructure, with humans at its core and artificial intelligence as its support, keeping in mind a vision and mission whose goal is to care for the individual before treating him. Here lies the approach that enables health systems to move from the concept of disease care to proactiveness in building their capabilities to be able “To predict risks, prevent diseases, and take action and early intervention to preserve people’s lives and promote their health and well-being.”

His Excellency stressed that the smart health system in Abu Dhabi is already achieving a tangible impact, as it enables early detection of diseases, accelerates the pace of response to emergency situations, and enhances prevention more accurately for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

Al Mansouri stressed that developing health as an infrastructure requires integration, transparency, and focus on quality levels, stressing that achieving the necessary transformation requires abandoning a model that lacks integration in its initiatives and adopting a comprehensive and unified system capable of learning, adapting, and continuing improvement, and designed to continue achieving a positive impact in a cumulative way that grows in the long term, while moving away from developing temporary solutions that address short-term challenges. He pointed out that achieving these efforts’ goals requires adopting a strategic mindset that goes beyond Limits of the present and thinking in the long term, in addition to developing decisive policies, and having the courage to reimagine the health system as a whole.

The session was moderated by Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of global communications company Rudder Fun, with the participation of Michael Zinn, President and CEO of Fresenius, Deepak Nath, CEO of Smith+Nephew, and Nadine Hashash-Haram, Founder and CEO of Proximi.

The panellists addressed the reasons why technology-enabled health innovations often fail to scale at scale, as well as discussing new models of collaboration, governance, and incentives needed to create a broad footprint at the population level.

“We need to move towards a new approach to health care,” said Cathy Bloomgarden. “In many countries and governments, care is not thought first, but rather about solving one problem after another without looking at the overall system as a whole.”

This discussion comes as a continuation of the ongoing cooperation between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and the World Economic Forum, as the “leading global body for exploration and experimentation” within the Forum’s Digital Transformation in Health Initiative.

Within the framework of this partnership, the World Economic Forum issued a research paper entitled “A New Era for Digital Health: Abu Dhabi’s Leap towards Health Intelligence” prior to the Davos meeting, which highlighted Abu Dhabi’s experience in moving from digital innovation to system-wide health research, and achieving measurable results.

The research paper presents the concept of smart health systems as a basic infrastructure, similar to energy or communications, and also presents the Abu Dhabi model as a practical guide to guide governments and sector leaders who wish to go beyond traditional health care models, through data integration, enhancing good governance, and activating partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Through its ongoing partnership with the World Economic Forum, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi works with global leaders to encourage the adoption of new approaches in the areas of prevention, long healthy living, enhancing the resilience of health systems, and supporting the global transformation from non-integrated health care models to smart health systems capable of continuous learning.

• For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Twitter