Arab Health Congress - on top of the world

Arab Health, which takes place at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre from 28-31 January 2008, features the world's most comprehensive conference programme under the banner of the Arab Health Congress.

The Congress encompasses 18 internationally accredited conferences in specialised areas of medicine, surgery and healthcare management with over 400 eminent and internationally acclaimed speakers and more than 6,000 delegates, making it the world's largest such event. The conferences are accredited by the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education (AACME), recognised in over 96 countries.

The Congress sponsor is UAE development company Emaar that has announced a healthcare group that plans to develop and manage over 100 hospitals, clinics and medical centres in the Middle East and North Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia in the next ten years.

Dubai Healthcare City, which aims to become an internationally recognised location of choice for quality healthcare, is the leading sponsor of the conferences that make up the Congress - including Leaders in Healthcare.

An international faculty of speakers will be taking part in Leaders in Healthcare, including: Dr Muhadditha Al Hashimi, CEO, of Dubai Healthcare City; Dr Delos Cosgrove, CEO Cleveland Clinic, USA; Guy Ellena, Director of the Health and Education Department, International Finance Corporation, World Bank; Robert Sloane, International Advisor, Department of Health, UK.

The Congress is one of only a handful of events in the world to receive the Gold Seal of Accreditation from the AACME and delegates who attend will receive an accreditation certificate that can be used towards maintaining their annual quota of continuing medical education credits, which are now necessary to renew medical practicing licences in the UAE.

Organised by IIR Middle East, Arab Health is a must attend event in the global healthcare calendar. Established more than three decades ago, Arab Health takes place at the centre of one of the fastest growing and most lucrative healthcare markets in the world.

Supported by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health, the Health Authority Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Health Authority, the 2008 edition of Arab Health Exhibition will showcase products and services by more than 2500 exhibitors representing over 65 countries. More than 50,000 healthcare professionals from all over the world are expected to attend.

Emerging trends both worldwide and regionally will be examined in the Global Healthcare Marketing with a panel of world-class speakers from the USA, Singapore, the UK, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. Platinum sponsor is Singapore Medicine, a multi-agency government initiative aimed at making Singapore's world-class healthcare services easily accessible to international patients.

Information Technology in Healthcare is another of the 18 conferences with expert speakers from the World Health Organisation and the UK's National Health Service joining regional healthcare IT leaders. Gold sponsors of the conference are Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, and IBM, the IT company that helps deliver information based medicine and patient services.

Cryo-Save, which launched the region's first private cord blood stem cell bank in Dubai and has 65,000 customers worldwide, is gold sponsor of the specialised obstetrics and gynaecology conference. Merck Sharp & Dohme, a leading research-based pharmaceutical company, is silver sponsor

Platinum sponsor of the special paediatrics conference is IBA, a company that delivers solutions of unique precision in the fields of cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Kart Storz, a company with a worldwide reputation in the production and sale of medical instruments and devices, is platinum sponsor of the urology conference.

Platinum sponsor of the conference on medical imaging and diagnosis is Philips Medical Systems, a global leader in diagnostic imaging systems, healthcare information technology, patient monitoring and cardiac devices.

Gold sponsor of the anaesthesia conference is Spacelabs Healthcare, one of the world's most respected medical device and services companies with distribution channels in over 100 countries.

There are further Arab Health Congress conferences in the series, including molecular imaging, musculoskeletal, laboratory management, surgery, vascular intervention and orthopaedics.

"All Arab Health Congress conferences have AACME accredited hours, demonstrating the fact that Arab Health has met the rigorous standards for delivering quality continuing medical education," said Simon Page, Group Director of Life Sciences at IIR Middle East, organisers of Arab Health.