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Health & Wellness

Health and wellness news from the Middle East. All the important stories, plus authoritative opinion and analysis.

Akram Bouchenaki, CEO of Abdul Latif Jameel Health

Healthtech provider targets early cancer detection across Mena

Abdul Latif Jameel Health is planning to expand throughout the Middle East and Africa, its CEO Akram Bouchenaki has told AGBI. The multinational company – the healthcare business of Saudi family conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel – is looking at new locations and tech innovations as part of its ambition to accelerate the region’s access to […]

Innovations in healthtech allow doctors to perform surgery virtually, using a headset

Gulf healthtech investment is just what the doctor ordered

Technological innovation and broader changes in society are shifting the balance of power in healthcare across the Middle East region, increasing investment from entrepreneurs looking to capitalise on the sector’s digital revolution. “The same wave of personalisation and consumerisation that ushered in analytics-based recommendation engines for entertainment has programmed people to want healthcare that is […]

Jason L Signor, CEO of Big Sky

Bahrain’s GFH takes on US healthcare with Big Sky deal

Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group announced on Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Big Sky Asset Management, a US real estate asset manager focused on the healthcare sector. The transaction further expands GFH’s presence in the States and follows the partnership in May with SQ Asset Management, a specialist in student […]

AstraZeneca will be able to produce pharmaceuticals at a scale that local companies are unable to reach

Pharma giants move in on UAE as demand stretches local firms

AstraZeneca and G42 Healthcare have signed an agreement to locally manufacture pharmaceuticals in Abu Dhabi. The agreement outlines collaboration in four key areas, including localisation of manufacturing, research and development, innovation and sustainability at a global scale.  But while the deal aims to cement Abu Dhabi’s position as a hub for research and innovation in […]

The business of sleep: from beating jet lag to space-age linen

“I think it’s probably the easiest topic in the world because everybody is interested in it,” says Lilburne Opie, founder and CEO of Dubai-based company Linen Obsession, when we meet for this interview. She’s talking about sleep, which, like breathing, eating and drinking, is a vital necessity. “Even if you get enough time in bed, […]

PureGym eyes up to 130 branches as part of Mena expansion

UK-based fitness brand PureGym has revealed plans to open branches in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), beginning in the UAE but with Egypt, Kuwait and Oman also on the radar. The company has signed an agreement with its franchise partner, Ektimal, to open at least 130 gyms across the region over the next […]

qatar world cup

Qatar to intensify labour inspections during World Cup

Qatar will intensify labour inspections during the soccer World Cup including extra health and safety checks to protect workers from exploitation, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said on Wednesday. Rights groups and labour unions have warned that hospitality, transport and security workers are especially vulnerable during the month-long tournament, the first held in a […]

French cities to ban Qatar World Cup fan zones

Several major French cities including Lille, Strasbourg and Bordeaux said they will not organise fan zones or put up giant outdoor screens to show Qatar World Cup soccer matches in protest against ecological and humanitarian issues. Leftist and ecologist mayors in those cities said the loss of immigrant workers’ lives during construction of the stadia […]

Injections of Botox go directly into the face muscles and work for approximately six months

Injection of interest in beauty industry as men turn to ‘Brotox’

Botox injections are becoming increasingly commonplace among men in the business world, but could they really prove the difference in securing that big, career-defining deal? It may sound far fetched but businessmen in the Middle East are turning to botulinum toxin type A, as the pressure to look good in the “Zoom Boom” era continues […]

Enhance Fitness muscles in on Saudi health push

Enhance Fitness, a Dubai-based personal training platform, has expanded into Saudi Arabia as the kingdom embraces a major health and fitness push, creating new business opportunities. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics recently revealed that 48 percent of people across the country now practice physical and sporting activities for at least 30 minutes a week.  […]

Healthy fast food startups aim to tackle growing GCC obesity

Following its success in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, health food eat-in and home delivery company Under500 is set to expand to Qatar.  The firm’s low-calorie meals – served in franchised venues across the UAE and Saudi Arabia and via online delivery services such as Talabat and Deliveroo – are to be ordered by customers in Doha through delivery […]

Asim Amin, the founder and CEO of Plumm

Mental health as important as salary in the Gulf

Companies offering robust mental health support programmes will secure the best talent in the Gulf, according to the founder of a workplace wellbeing platform. Asim Amin, founder and CEO of Plumm, said that while businesses in the region have started to realise the importance of their employees’ mental wellbeing, there is “still a long way […]

BMG is a production service provider for vials and pre-filled syringes used for vaccines

ADQ injects new life into healthcare portfolio

ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment company, today announced it has agreed to acquire one of Turkey’s leading producers of sterile injectable products as part of plans to build an integrated healthcare and life sciences platform in the UAE. The company said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Birgi Mefar Group (BMG), a […]

From Austria to the UAE: Monkeypox cases around the world

Over 20 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with more than 300 confirmed or suspected infections mostly in Europe. The outbreaks are raising alarm because monkeypox, which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys, mostly occurs in west and central Africa, and only very occasionally […]

Nearly a fifth of UK monkeypox cases linked to travel

Nearly a fifth of monkeypox cases reported in the United Kingdom are linked to travel, Britain’s UK Health Security Agency(UKHSA) said on Wednesday. Recent foreign travel to a number of different countries in Europe within 21 days of symptom onset has been reported by 34 confirmed cases, or 18 percent of the 190 cases of […]

A biobank is a type of biorepository that stores biological samples, usually human), for use in research

UAE to open first robotic biobank in 2023

Al Jalila Foundation, a member of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, will establish the UAE’s first robotic biobank, in partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).  The collaboration will advance medical research in the areas of genetic disorders, cancer and […]