AI in Health: Middle East & Africa - Latest News, Resources & Opportunities (Sept 2025)

Welcome to a special edition of my monthly AI in Health round-up, this time spotlighting the Middle East and Africa.

I’ve been spending more time in the region recently and have been struck by the bold vision, rapid progress, and growing momentum around digital transformation and AI in healthcare. The region is fast emerging as a hub for digital health, with unique challenges and valuable lessons for us all.

If you’re interested in the intersection of health and artificial intelligence, this round-up is for you. 

📰 News Highlights

🟢Egypt Rolls Out First AI-Powered Breast Cancer Detection Platform in Middle East https://techafricanews.com/2025/08/25/ai-in-healthcare-egypt-rolls-out-first-breast-cancer-detection-platform-in-middle-east/ 

🟢How the Future of AI Health Care is Taking Shape in the Middle East https://www.newsweek.com/nw-ai/how-future-ai-health-care-taking-shape-middle-east-2102399 

🟢Saudi AI Company Humain seeks global Private Equity backing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-16/ai-deals-saudi-arabia-eyes-artificial-intelligence-partnership-with-pe-firms

🟢Health Tech for 1.4 billion: Can Africa Lead Its Own Digital Health Future? https://techafricanews.com/2025/06/19/health-tech-for-1-4-billion-can-africa-lead-its-own-digital-health-future/ 

🟢UAE AI Academy launches Chief AI Officer programme https://www.middleeastainews.com/p/uae-ai-academy-launches-first-of 

🟢Oman, Egypt partners announced $265 million AI zone https://www.middleeastainews.com/p/oman-egypt-partners-announced-265 

🟢First LLM trained exclusively on Saudi data sets https://www.middleeastainews.com/p/first-llm-trained-saudi-data-sets 

🟢How this African startup is using AI to close data gaps in healthcare https://blog.google/intl/en-africa/company-news/outreach-and-initiatives/the-kenyan-startup-using-ai-to-close-data-gaps-in-healthcare/ 

🟢Biobanking in the GCC: Powering Precision Medicine, AI-Driven Diagnostics, and Health Sovereignty in the Middle East https://www.biobanking.com/biobanking-in-the-gcc-powering-precision-medicine-ai-driven-diagnostics-and-health-sovereignty-in-the-middle-east/  

🟢Dubai Health announces UAE’s first AI Literacy Framework https://www.middleeastainews.com/p/uae-first-open-ai-literacy-framework 

🟢Saudi Arabia’s Healthcare Investment Landscape: A Sector on the Move https://www.aranca.com/knowledge-library/articles/business-research/saudi-arabias-healthcare-investment-landscape-a-sector-on-the-move 

🟢Saudi Arabia’s healthcare push puts AI in the spotlight https://www.arabnews.com/node/2613798/saudi-arabia 

🟢The African AI healthtech firms saving lives and attracting investors https://african.business/2025/05/technology-information/the-african-ai-healthtech-firms-saving-lives-and-attracting-investors 

📚 Resources

🔵How digital innovation is reshaping healthcare in the Middle East | World Economic Forum  https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/10/digital-innovation-reshaping-healthcare-middle-east/ 

🔵Can AI help us understand AI-powered healthcare solutions in the GCC? A regional experiment using ChatGPT-4 https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/m1/en/strategic-foresight/sector-strategies/healthcare-intellectual-capital/can-ai-help-us-understand-ai-powered-healthcare.html 

🔵Report - AI in Healthcare: MENA Region on the Verge of a Major Breakthrough - https://www.bccresearch.com/pressroom/ift/middle-east-and-north-africa-ai-in-healthcare-market?srsltid=AfmBOoq6fVT_QrN_cP8Qy3MZ2FEPnk0Hhv_i38Vw3S9nn6XpnsRTpPOR# 

🔵Report - The Ethics of AI-Driven Health Projects in Africa https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/the-ethics-of-ai-driven-health-projects-in-africa 

🔵Article - Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002207 

🔵Paper - Navigating digital frontiers in UAE healthcare: A qualitative exploration of healthcare professionals’ and patients’ experiences with AI and telemedicine https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11991283/ 

🔵Paper - The current state, challenges, and future directions of artificial intelligence in healthcare in Saudi Arabia: systematic review https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2025.1518440/full 

🔵Paper - Arabic Large Language Models for Medical Text Generation https://arxiv.org/html/2509.10095v1 

📚 Events

🔵Event - Global Health Exhibition, Riyadh, 27-30 Oct, 2025 https://www.globalhealthsaudi.com/en/home.html 

🔵Event - ZIMAM Digital Health Forum, 4-8 Nov, 2025  https://www.gccehealth.org/ 

🔵Event - WHX Dubai (formerly Arab Health), 9-12 Feb, 2026 https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/healthcare/dubai/en/home.html 

🔵Event - MedTech Dubai, 10-12 Feb, 2026 https://med-tech.world/dubai/ 

🔵Event - GITEX Future Health, Morocco, 4-6 May, 2026 https://gitexfuturehealth.com/ 

🚨 HealthTech Opportunities

🟣Co-Founder - AI-Powered Health Platform Startup, Dubai https://ae.bebee.com/job/44cccb96919b03bb66d18e2b4fd2b99d 

🟣Business Development Manager, Healthtech (SaaS) Startup, UAE https://ae.jooble.org/jdp/-8899630968999451184 

🟣 Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Digital Health Company, Dubai https://ae.bebee.com/job/5ba6eb014b9ff1251f527ad1418537cd 

🟣ABHI Middle East Healthtech Accelerator Programme https://www.abhi.org.uk/international/abhi-middle-east-accelerator/ 

🟣Plug & Play Healthcare Programme, Abu Dhabi https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations/abu-dhabi/abu-dhabi-investment-office 

🟣Healthtech Hub Africa Accelerator https://thehealthtech.org/apply/2025-accelerator-call/ 

Dr Avi Mehra

For more insights at the intersection of Health and Artificial Intelligence, follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/avimehra3/