WHO projects that the number of people aged 60 and over will more than double, from one billion in 2019 to 2.1 billion by 2050, requiring significant adaptation across health and social care systems
UAE moves to strengthen prevention and healthy ageing as its over-60 population is projected to grow more than six-fold by 2050
WHX Leaders 2027 will convene health ministers, global institutions and healthcare leaders in Dubai on 26 January with a new Health 2050 agenda, held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 28 September 2026: Health systems worldwide are approaching a demographic turning point. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that the number of people aged 60 and over will more than double, from one billion in 2019 to 2.1 billion by 2050, requiring significant adaptation across health and social care systems and wider society.
The trend is even sharper in the UAE, where the number of people aged 60 and over is projected to grow more than six-fold between 2020 and 2050, from around 311,000, or 3.1 per cent of the population, to two million, or 19.7 per cent, according to UNFPA estimates.
To address this, the UAE has moved early to align national policy with both priorities. The Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) and Dubai Social Agenda 33 underpin the newly established Dubai Longevity Authority, tasked with building a regulated ecosystem for prevention, healthy ageing and advanced healthcare investment. At the federal level, the National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031, aligned with the UAE Centennial 2071, sets health and wellbeing as core measures of the country’s long-term progress.
Together, protecting populations against acute health threats and managing the rising cost of chronic disease have become two of the largest and fastest-growing lines of government health expenditure worldwide, prompting health and finance authorities to plan for both simultaneously, rather than treating them as separate agendas.
Against this backdrop, WHX Leaders will return to Dubai on 26 January 2027 with a new Health 2050 agenda bringing the two priorities together. Part of World Healthcare Week and held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), the invitation-only ministerial summit will convene ministers, global institutions, sovereign capital and healthcare leaders under the theme ‘Health 2050: Designing the Next Era of Proactive Systems – Resilient Nations. Thriving Lives.’
The programme will centre on two strategic pillars: Resilient Nations: Building Strategic Health Security and Thriving Lives: The Healthspan Imperative, reflecting the growing importance of health resilience, prevention and healthy longevity to national prosperity and competitiveness.
Resilient Nations will explore how governments can build health systems that anticipate and adapt to future threats, spanning predictive intelligence, sustainable preparedness financing, biosecurity and diagnostics resilience, strategic supply chains and global health diplomacy. Thriving Lives will focus on reducing the growing burden of chronic disease through prevention, precision medicine, early intervention, healthy ageing and national healthspan strategies.
David Lynn, Chief Executive Officer, inD, said:”Forums that bring leaders together with clarity of purpose become catalysts for real-world change. At inD, our purpose is to create impact, and WHX Leaders exemplifies this by convening decision-makers, catalysing collaboration and converting shared ideas into accountable partnerships that deliver measurable outcomes for people and health systems.”
The 2027 agenda builds on the inaugural WHX Leaders summit in Dubai in February 2026, supported by headline partner PureHealth, which set a clear direction for health-system transformation centred on prevention, integrated health data, responsible technology adoption, equity and collaboration. The 2026 WHX Leaders report highlighted a broader shift from reactive healthcare toward intelligence-led system design.
Speaking during the inaugural summit, Shaista Asif, Group Chief Executive Officer, PureHealth, said:“We firmly believe that the next decade will not be defined by opening new hospitals. It’ll be defined by new thinking. We’re giving people more life to live, more time with their families, more years of contribution, more years of purpose. We’re taking healthcare from being an economic burden to an economic catalyst, and this is the most important point: this transformation. It’s not about technology. Technology is just the enabler. Humanity is the purpose.”
The inaugural summit also highlighted the potential for countries to use genomics and precision medicine to build more preventative and equitable healthcare systems.
Dimitris Moulavasilis, Group Chief Executive Officer, M42, said: “For countries in the Global South, where health data is scarce, funding is limited and late-stage disease is common, genomics, AI and advanced tech are not luxuries, but a path to equity. It allows nations to leapfrog legacy systems and build healthier models that are resilient, inclusive and sustainable from the outset.”
WHX Leaders takes place as part of World Healthcare Week 2027, taking place from 25-28 January at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, Dubai Expo City and Dubai World Trade Centre, bringing the trade, digital health and leadership dimensions of global healthcare together through three connected events.
For more information, please visit: https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/leaders/dubai/
