The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre have established a Medical Registry Platform that now includes 12 disease registries, WAM reported. The platform initially focused on diabetes and cancer before expanding to cover additional chronic conditions and procedures. This completion enables more comprehensive tracking of health trends across the population of the emirate.
According to standards published by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, the disease registries require specific minimum data sets from all healthcare providers for conditions including diabetes. The data covers key metrics for each registry to ensure consistency and usability for public health analysis. The system is part of the broader Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange framework.
A memorandum of understanding signed in October 2024 between the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi aims to integrate national disease registries across the UAE, the ministry said. The pact focuses on health data sharing and security to create unified statistics at the federal level. This builds on Abu Dhabi’s advanced platform to benefit the entire country.
The Abu Dhabi Public Health Center addresses essential public health functions such as surveillance and disease registries, according to a chapter in a Springer Nature publication. The center has progressively rolled out the registries to include screening and early detection programs for adults and children. Recent efforts have incorporated rare diseases following the July 2026 activation of a dedicated centre of excellence.
M42 has contributed to these efforts by sequencing 802,000 genomes, including 702,000 from Emiratis, the organisation said. This genetic data set supports the disease registries by providing population-level insights for research and prevention strategies. The company’s Malaffi platform was named a global reference site by SNOMED International for its role in standardizing health data.
Healthcare facilities in Abu Dhabi are mandated to connect to the platform and submit data in line with the defined standards, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi stated. The registries cover a range of conditions beyond the initial diabetes and cancer entries to reach the total of 12. Such data collection aids in identifying prevalence and guiding resource allocation for healthcare services.
