The upcoming Dubai Health Forum 2019 (DHF) is expected to attract 1,500 attendees who will benefit from the 62 sessions by 42 speakers from 15 countries, said the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) during a press conference at the DHA headquarters.

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the third edition of the forum will take place on January 21 and 22 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

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.

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. “

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,” said Dr Taryam.

“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.”

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.

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 Jasmi 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. – TradeArabia News Service