Arab Health 2013 showcases the latest breakthrough in data-driven healthcare technology for the region

These updates, will contribute greatly to the decision making process and results in Middle Eastern healthcare, medical institutions and individual patients.

The Big Data Conference will feature distinguished international and regional speakers such as Daniel Whitehead, MENA Region Healthcare Lead at Booz Allen Hamilton; Dr Oliver Harrison, Director of Strategy, Health Authority, Abu Dhabi; Dr El Daw Suliman, Head of Section, Research and Performance Management, Department of Policy and Strategy, Dubai Health Authority; and Eng. Sobhi Batterjee, Founder and CEO, Saudi German Hospital.

"Emerging technologies such as cloud computing provide new capabilities to perform analytics across highly variable data, using new technical approaches to store, mine, and distribute massive amounts of data," said Simon Page, Managing Director, Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions.

"Healthcare organisations in the Middle East are beginning to understand the value of performing analytics across different types of data to identify patterns that can drive informed decision making, improve quality of care and patient outcomes, and reduce cost."

According to research from Booz Allen Hamilton, data-driven healthcare has become progressively recognized and defined recently. It is the idea that applying analytics to large datasets such as electronic health records can lead to better outcomes, ensuring that the best treatment procedures are available to medical experts and that treatment procedures are customised for individual patients.

A variety of big data analytical techniques and detection methods can also be used to support the creation and maintenance of tools that allow organisations to identify fraud, waste and abuse in healthcare insurance payments.

Daniel Whitehead from Booz Allen Hamilton says: "If rates of fraud in GCC countries are similar to those in the United States, it could be costing the region more than US$1 billion a year. Moreover, regional healthcare expenditures are increasing fast, making health insurance an even more compelling target for fraud and abuse."

Big data analytics can be used to develop better clinical protocols and reduce the incidence and mortality rates of several diseases in hospitals, including hospital-acquired conditions and infections such as sepsis, consequently improving the quality of healthcare. Cloud analytics can enable the development of protocols and training to improve clinical compliance and achieve better outcomes, in addition to the development of alert systems for early detection of critical conditions.

"The ability to compete and win in the information-enabled healthcare industry will come from powerful analytics that draw insights and value from Big Data. In the MENA region, the ability to present those insights in impactful, intuitive ways to drive effective decision making is the biggest challenge of all," highlighted Whitehead.

Arab Health Exhibition and Congress 2013 provides a platform for the world's leading manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors to meet the medical and scientific community in the Middle East and beyond. Arab Health takes place from 28-31 January 2013 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibitions Centre and will host 3,500 exhibitors, more than 7,000 healthcare professionals and 75,000 visitors from across the globe.