Health security and chronic disease prevention climb government agendas as WHX Leaders 2027 responds to shifting global health priorities
- 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.
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