Communicable diseases in the emirate of Abu Dhabi such as malaria, poliomyelitis and measles have been eradicated, bringing down mortality rate to only 1.4 per 1000 population, compared to around 4.5 in 1975 and raising life expectancy at birth.
 
From 1975 to 2011, the number of hospitals grew from two to 35, while the number of hospital beds increased from 616 to 3,659 in 2011.

Over the same period, the number of doctors grew from 616 to 4,900. The emirate's health sector is served by 494 health centres and 427 pharmacies and 10,500 nurses.
 
"Thanks to these developments, life expectancy at birth reached 77.6 years in 2011 (among the highest worldwide) up from only 49.3 years back in 1970. Detailed by sex, life expectancy at birth was 78.2 years for females and 77.1 years for males, with Al Gharbia region recording the highest life expectancy at birth (79.5 years)," said the Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (Scad).
 
The private health sector has grown substantially in tandem with the improvement of the health insurance system, the increased levels of health financing in the emirate and a favourable climate for health insurance companies and their products.
 
This has contributed towards the overall expansion observed in treatment services, with the number of individuals covered under the enhanced insurance service during 2011 reaching 1,053,893 people, up from 1,044,743 in 2010. Since  2008, there has been a steady annual growth in the number of people covered by the enhanced health insurance scheme in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Scad said that emirate of Abu Dhabi is trying to provide a still higher standard of living for its people and in the past few years, the emirate has witnessed major developments in the health sector, both public and private.
 
The centre issued on Monday a set of indicators about the health sector in the emirate of Abu Dhabi for the year 2011, showing the emirate’s achievements in this sector.

The period under review also saw Abu Dhabi health services expand considerably, in line with the policy of Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (Haad) to ensure efficient performance of all health facilities in the emirate, which include public and private hospitals, primary health care centres, maternity clinics etc.
 
Public health services have grown to cover all areas in Abu Dhabi emirate with primary health care facilities which provide basic treatment, dental care and health education. Abu Dhabi's preventive health programme controls communicable diseases through vaccination, chemicals disinfection, surveillance of those in close contact with patients, early detection of diseases and health education in collaboration with the concerned authorities.
 
Haad also has regulations in place to control the handling, dispensing and disposing of medications to limit any potential risks associated with their use. Specialised services have also undergone major developments as evidenced by higher performance in all sections.