The Saudi Arabia Model of Care Forum ends with a focus on increasing healthy lifespan
The second edition of Saudi Arabia’s Model of Care Forum ended in Riyadh on Wednesday. It brought together more than 1,500 healthcare professionals from 20 health clusters in both the public and private sectors. The event, organized by the government’s Health Holding Company, had discussions about the future of healthcare, including how to increase the human lifespan and how digital health can improve the sector.
Forum Recommendations
In his final speech, Dr. Nawfal Aljerian, the acting executive director of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Referral Center, shared the main recommendations from the forum. He highlighted the importance of focusing on patients and communities, which has been the goal of Saudi Arabia’s healthcare system since 2016.
Aljerian, who also leads the New Model of Care project, talked about the need for value-based care, improving quality, and using new technologies like AI and machine learning. He also pointed out that healthcare workers need to be trained to adapt to the changing system.
Dr. Richard Hobbs, head of primary care at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Institute of Digital Health, discussed how technology and AI are changing healthcare, especially in analyzing large amounts of data from electronic health records (EHRs).
Hobbs mentioned how the COVID-19 pandemic showed the value of real-time data in tracking infections, death rates, and predicting the virus’s spread. He also praised mobile apps that helped with contact tracing, symptom tracking, and testing for the virus.
Healthy Lifespan
Dr. Mehmood Khan, the CEO of Hevolution Foundation, talked about how improving healthcare can help people live longer, healthier lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the average lifespan in Saudi Arabia is 74.3 years, but people live in good health only for 64 of those years. Closing this gap is important to improve quality of life. Globally, the average lifespan is 73.4 years, but people stay healthy for only 63.7 years.
Khan mentioned that adding just one extra healthy year to a person’s life could greatly increase global economic output—by $4 trillion in the U.S. alone and $30-40 trillion in European Union countries.
With the number of people aged 60 and above expected to double from 1 billion to 2 billion between 2050 and 2100, extending healthy lifespans is becoming more important.
Hevolution Foundation, created in 2018 by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, focuses on research for longer, healthier lives. The foundation has invested over $400 million, making it the second-largest funder of aging research in the world, after the U.S. government.
Healthcare Access
In a session called “Advancing Smart Health Through the Model of Care,” Dr. Reem Bunyan, CEO of the Center for Value in Health, discussed the challenges of putting modern healthcare into practice across Saudi Arabia.
Bunyan pointed out that for the new healthcare model to succeed, everyone must have equal access to healthcare, so all citizens get the same quality of service no matter where they live. She also emphasized the importance of using data to make decisions and ensuring the new model is financially sustainable.
Other panel discussions focused on important topics like “The Role of Primary Care,” “Bridging Healthcare Gaps,” and “Managing Chronic Diseases Effectively.”
Published: 30th January 2025
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