How the Opportunities in Women's Health Could Transform the UAE's Healthcare Industry

How the Opportunities in Women's Health Could Transform the UAE's Healthcare Industry

Women’s health is one of the fastest-growing sectors in healthcare. The global women’s health market is expected to exceed USD 50 billion by 2025, based on its current valuation of USD 39.3 billion and a forecasted Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.2%. [1]

Family planning and the treatment of hormonal infertility due to conditions such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) are likely to witness the fastest growth in the forecast period, due to the increasing involvement of major market players with vested interests in the fertility market, and favorable government policies.

The distribution of the market is also expected to shift.

Today, North America accounts for roughly 30% of the global market, with the Middle East and Africa (MEA) making up 5% between them. This is disproportionate to the population sizes of both regions; the US population at 327 million people is smaller by a factor of five than the population of the MEA region at 1.62 billion. The underutilisation of the MEA population means that a shift in the distribution of women’s health services from established to emerging markets - from the US and Western Europe, to the Middle East and Africa - has the potential to radically alter the landscape of the entire healthcare industry.

As the healthcare market evolves over the next 7 years, will the economic trend towards globalisation as witnessed in other industries be replicated in women’s health? If so, what does the Middle East and the UAE in particular stand to gain?

Let’s take a look at one of the verticals in women’s health that presents significant opportunities for innovation and market capitalisation in the UAE in the next decade.

Clinical Research and Trials

For years, clinical research was an almost entirely male domain, with trials conducted on men and the results merely extrapolated to women. Only since 1993, when the US Congress decreed that women were to be included in all federally funded clinical investigations, has the research community begun to entertain the fact that sex and gender differences might affect clinical outcomes. As a result of being excluded from clinical trials, women are still 50-75% more likely than men to suffer adverse reactions to drugs that have not been tested on them.[2]

 The globalisation of clinical research is also a relatively recent phenomenon. In 1995, over 90% of clinical trials were conducted in the United States or Western Europe[3]. Twenty years later, despite the fact that the number of countries serving as trial sites has more than doubled, the US and Europe continue to host the vast majority of clinical trials (over 80%)[4].

The need for more accurately designed, representative, peer-reviewed clinical research is greater now than ever before. According to the World Economic Forum[5], the world will lose USD 30 trillion to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer by 2030 unless new methods of diagnosis and treatment can be found. This is particularly relevant for women as two in every three deaths in women are caused by NCDs, and most NCD deaths among women occur in low- and middle-income countries.[6]

 “To improve the health of women most efficiently, adequate resources need to be allocated to the prevention, management and treatment of NCDs in women.”[7]

 Systematic evaluation of the differences between men and women, in the form of a new body of clinical research spearheaded by organisations in MEA, could improve the understanding of diseases, “as well as inform health practitioners and policymakers in optimising preventive strategies to reduce the global burden of disease more efficiently in women and men.” [8]

How this impacts the UAE

Since the UAE was formed in 1971, the diversification of the economy away from petroleum has been a clearly stated and actively implemented government policy. In June 2018, the government of Abu Dhabi announced a USD 50 billion fund to fuel local business growth, of which USD 1.06 billion has since been allocated to support homegrown research and development across industries.

Nabta Health, a local company pioneering hybrid healthcare for women, is one of a handful of “by MENA, for MENA” companies that is lobbying for a greater portion of the USD 50 billion to be allocated to clinical research and trials in the region.

 “The establishment of study sites in the UAE for clinical research into NCDs in women presents an opportunity for economic diversification that could be worth up to USD 15 trillion globally by 2030,” says Sophie Smith, Nabta Co-founder and CEO. “In 1995, the Middle East accounted for 1.3% of all clinical trials. A quarter of a century later, we’ve barely doubled that. The next billion people will come out of the Middle East and Africa. We should be developing new healthcare models to support populations in emerging economies here in the UAE; not simply copying and pasting Western healthcare systems that rely on bulky infrastructure and outdated models of care.”

Investing in Clinical Research will boost medical tourism

The UAE is already a self-proclaimed “hub” of medical tourism for the region, enticing would-be medical tourists with its state-of-the-art technology, specialised clinicians, and affordable treatments. In 2016, the Medical Tourism Index ranked Dubai and Abu Dhabi 16th and 25th for medical tourism respectively, with the Dubai Healthcare Authority (DHA) logging over USD 381 million in revenue from medical tourism that year.

But the UAE will need to up its game if it wishes to compete with countries at the top of the Medical Tourism Index such as Canada, the United Kingdom and India. What do these countries have in common? Three things: (1) well-defined and implemented clinical standards, (2) a value-based model of care with all the necessary protections in place, and, perhaps most importantly, (3) funding bodies dedicated to making investments into clinical research. India, for example, recently changed its clinical trial rules to speed up drug approvals.

“In order to become a global hub for medical tourism, the UAE needs to establish itself as the trusted global leader in specific fields of medicine such as women’s health, or select NCDs such as diabetes,” says Smith, “‘Trusted’ means ensuring that medical practitioners hold the qualifications required to practise, along with properly substantiated subject matter expertise. ‘Trusted’ means guaranteeing that every drug prescribed, every test offered, and every treatment considered by clinicians comes from a place of clinical and not commercial incentive.

“We see a strong correlation between clinicians who wish to be involved in the discovery of new advancements in healthcare, and clinicians who are ‘trusted’. Invest in research and development, and you’ll start to attract trusted clinicians; deploy trusted clinicians, supported by a transparent, technology-enabled infrastructure, and the medical tourists will follow.”

For more information, visit www.nabtahealth.com

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Article Notes

[1] Women’s Health Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis By Application (Postmenopausal Osteoporosis, Infertility, Endometriosis, Contraceptives, Menopause, PCOS), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2026, Grand View Research, Aug-19

[2] The Surprising Reason we Lack so Much Knowledge About Women’s Health, Forbes, 24-Aug-18

[3] Ethical and scientific implications of the globalization of clinical research, Glickman SW, McHutchison JG, Peterson ED, Caims CB, Harrington RA, Califf RM, et al. Ethical and scientific implications of the globalization of clinical research. New England J Med 2009;360:816-23.

[4] Ethical and scientific implications of the globalization of clinical research, Glickman SW, McHutchison JG, Peterson ED, Caims CB, Harrington RA, Califf RM, et al. Ethical and scientific implications of the globalization of clinical research. New England J Med 2009;360:816-23.

[5] Why the 21st century’s biggest health challenge is our shared responsibility, World Economic Forum, 2019

[6] Women and NCDs: Overcoming the neglect, Global Health Action, 2014

[7] Women’s health: a global agenda, BMJ Glob Health, 2016

[8] Women’s health: a global agenda, BMJ Glob Health, 2016