Dubai Health Authority Reveals Details Of Dubai Health Forum 2019

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) announced the details of the third edition of the Dubai Health Forum 2019 (DHF)— which will take place from January 21 to 22— during a press conference held on Monday at the DHA headquarters.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai , the forum is expected to attract 1,500 attendees who will benefit from the 62 sessions by 42 speakers and moderators from 15 countries.

This year the forum will focus on the themes: family health and community wellbeing, human capital in health, patient centered healthcare, public health sustainable economics, technology and innovation and youth and healthcare

In addition to discussing the latest innovations in health, DHF will be introducing its first ever Health Hackathon, “The Dubai Health Hack”, which is set to last for 30 hours round the clock. The hackathon will focus on discovering solutions for people of determination. Hackers will be invited to develop solutions that eases the day-to-day lives of people of determination.

DHF, which was first launched in 2016, has become an annual gathering for healthcare leaders, professionals and the community. It serves as a momentous stepping-stone in Dubai’s journey to become a global pacesetter in innovative healthcare. DHF will together a myriad of highly respected decision makers, ministerial leaders, industry experts, award winners, inventors, innovators and institutions and organizations representing the wide spectrum of healthcare.

His Excellency Humaid Al Qutami, Director General of the DHA said: “The Dubai Health Forum, organised by the Dubai Health Authority, has successfully positioned itself as an international summit where health professionals, specialists and leaders meet to discuss the latest medical advancements, professional practices, techniques and research. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the forum aims to reinforce the efforts of the DHA to achieve its goal of reaching a healthier and happier society. It hopes to achieve this by learning from ideas, knowledge and experiences shared by experts and scientists in the forum and adopting them in the UAE. “

International Speakers

Dr Manal Taryam, CEO of the Primary Healthcare Sector at the DHA and president of the forum said DHF will see 42 international speakers from global organisations such as World Bank, NASA, IBM and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

They will touch on different topics such as gender balance, universal health coverage, patient centricity, health financing , quantum computing in health, AI in genomics as well as the use of Blockchain technology in health regulation to name a few.

“Given that 2019 was declared the Year of Tolerance by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan we wanted to add a humanitarian aspect to the forum and incorporate sessions on international best practices in dealing with humanitarian crises. We invited top officials from India to talk about how they maintained the health and safety of citizens during the Kerala floods. We also invited the health minister of Lebanon to share their experiences in maintaining public health and safety during the influx of refugees.”

High government officials & local ministers

DHF will see high-level government officials and decision makers take part in the forum such as: His Highness Sheikh Dr Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Health in the Kingdom of Bahrain who will talk about Bahrain’s experience in introducing national health insurance. In his session, His Excellency Ghassan Hasbani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health in Lebanon, will talk about maintaining public health and safety during conflict. Meanwhile Smt. K. K. Shailaja Teacher, Minister for Health and Social Justice, Kerala, India will talk about disaster management during the floods and Sir John Chisholm, former Executive Chairman of Genomics, England will be speaking at a session titled “The 100,000 Genomic Sequencing Project”.

Local ministers participating include His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister for Climate Change and Environment will talk about renewable energy impact on health.

International influencers

International Influencers will include Arunachalam Muruganantham AKA the Padman, who in 2014 was included in Time magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. The social entrepreneur from India invented a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine and is credited for innovating grassroots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.

Lebanese Superstar Elissa, who has been the highest selling female Middle Eastern artist since 2005 will be sharing her battle with breast cancer.

Innovation Park

Dubai Health Forum’s Innovation Park, will showcase the innovations of 25 startups in field of health. The innovations on display will include Qyas (a DHA solution to rate and rank health facilities and employees), telemedicine for diagnosis and therapy prescribing, assistive devices for people with disabilities, smart blood packaging and transport, Blockchain for hospital management, smart medical education and training, DNA imaging for screening cervical cancer in remote areas and AI for patient centricity

Health Talks

Meanwhile, “Health Talks” will present a platform for short discussion on current policies and innovative ideas in healthcare. With a two-day programme the Health talks will host 24 speakers discussing topics ranging from Sustainable Development Goals to Smart Health.

Hackathon

This year, DHF will be introducing its first ever Health Hackathon, “The Dubai Health Hack”, which is set to last for 30 hours round the clock, from January 21 to 22, 2019.

Amani Al Jasmi, Director of IT at the DHA said the main themes will surround discovering solutions for people of determination with the key aim of ‘empowering the determined.’ Hackers will be invited to develop solutions that either better the established services for people of determination, or create a game changing solution to ease their day-to-day lives.

Al Jasmi said that the solutions created will focus on mental, physical or intellectual disabilities.  The agenda of the Dubai Health Hack will therefore include onsite development of these solutions where specialist talks have also been organised.

Al Jassmi added that the Dubai Health Hack will welcome more than 10 experts to speak during the two -day event, with sessions covering various elements of technical (hardware/software development) and practical information (time management/quality management).

The planned sessions will be of great use to the participants during and after the Hackathon.

The hackathon is also calling aboard 12 professional mentors who will provide tactical support and offer advice to the hackers as they progress with their solutions.

Various universities and incubators from around the UAE and the GCC have been invited to attend and participate at DHH.

The forum has invited experienced professionals, end users, academics and support group leaders to form the mentor and judges’ groups.

With underlying backing from companies such as Philips and IBM, the Hackathon judging panel will be formed by 15 key individuals, all of whom will offer user specific intelligence, which will aid in deciding the final three solutions that could stand to win the grand prize. In addition to the prize, the DHA will also act as an incubator where the winner will have an opportunity to have DHA implement their innovation.

The winner of The Dubai Health Hack will be announced during Innovation Week 2019 in February. The runner up and the team in third place will also be awarded.