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Want to live longer? Come to UAE for healthier life, says PureHealth CEO

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On February 27, 2025

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The UAE will be the longevity capital of the world and anyone who wants to live longer will come to the UAE, said Shaista Asif, group CEO of PureHealth.

“Longevity is not a healthcare topic, but an economic topic… The UAE ranks number one in accredited healthcare facilities in the world and number 10 in the healthcare accessibility and efficiency. So, that’s how phenomenal UAE is in its healthcare journey. We are on a mission collectively where UAE will be longevity capital of the world. So, anyone who wants to live a longer, healthier and happier life will come to the UAE,” she said at the Investopia 2025 conference held in Abu Dhabi.

“The UAE is doing everything differently by tackling healthcare with proactive and preventive approach to take care of its population’s health. It’s actually practicing healthcare and we’re at the forefront of how healthcare is to be practiced as preventive. We’re trying to make the entire population healthier. We are enabling an entire ecosystem to work together to enable longevity and healthier lifespans for people by giving them access to mental health,” she said during a chat at the event.

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She said the focus is on not just increasing longevity, but also increasing health spans. “You’d be surprised to know that 100 years ago, the average lifespan of the human being was about 30. Today, the average lifespan in some countries is somewhere in the 80s — which is phenomenal.”

She pointed out that as healthcare system is increasing the lifespans of individuals, but people aged in 80s and 90s and have been bed-ridden for 10-20 years put strain not just on the healthcare systems, but economies of the world.

“In UAE, ecosystem is focused on building robust systems to tackle healthcare in a proactive and preventive matter to enable individuals to have longer health spans, and that translates into longer lifespans.”

Aging population syndrome

PureHealth CEO said the longevity is increasing a healthier longer lifespan.

“But when you look at what’s happening in the world today, the entire global healthcare system is in a matter of collapse right now. When you look at the far advanced Western world, or middle to low income countries as well, they’re all plagued by aging population syndrome. Nobody’s really looking into this right now. This is not just a healthcare problem. This is going to be a global catastrophe if we don’t deal with it right now or in the next five to 10 years.”

She added that the ageing population above 80 will triple in 10 years and 80 per cent of them will be living in low-income countries.

“The entire healthcare ecosystem around the world is not ready to absorb that kind of pressure, and they’re not even gearing up to be ready for that when it happens. We’re also looking at a time where one out of four aged individuals will not be able to afford quality healthcare.”

What prolongs life

Shaista revealed that the world is moving towards corrective healthcare because of the awareness that’s coming in the younger generation and technology that’s been rolled out, where artificial intelligence is at the forefront of preventative healthcare.

“We’re not going to be able to achieve any kind of proactive, preventive healthcare without AI. Healthcare is actually supposed to be preventive healthcare. Unfortunately, what is practiced all over the world is sick care. When you think of healthcare, the first thing that you think of is a hospital or a clinic. You go to a hospital or clinic because you feel sick. You never go to stay healthy.”

She noted that all healthcare ecosystems cater to only the sick or those who need it the most. “When we look at longevity, it depends upon genetics and epigenetics. Your genetics only constitute 15 or a maximum of 20 per cent of your ability to live a longer and healthier life. The rest of the 80 per cent is in epigenetics. It’s access to healthcare systems, your habits, your communities and mental health. Everything else makes up of how long and how well you will live.”

Covid-19 — chief transformation officer

She said technology adoption in healthcare, unfortunately, has been very slow compared to banking, supply chain and aviation sectors.

“Healthcare always stayed at the tail end. But Covid-19 helped. I call Covid-19 as the Chief Transformation Officer. It moved our mindsets into the future where suddenly the entire population was accepting technology. And it was a very careful, calculated effort not to regress from where we have advanced during Covid.”

She noted that there’s a shortage of healthcare facilities and staff around the world. “There is no possible way to cater to the demands of healthcare globally, if we are not going to adopt technology. Within the advent of AI, this has been game changing the way that we would be able to reach not just hundreds of thousands, but millions of people around the world. In a couple of years, there will be free primary healthcare for every human being on the planet,” she said.