Health

GCC HEALTH 2.0: Tackling diabetes and obesity in an age of digital acceleration

January 29, 2017

Global, Middle East

January 29, 2017

Global, Middle East
Melanie Noronha

Principal, Policy & insights

Melanie is a principal at Economist Impact. She has over ten years of experience delivering consulting and thought leadership projects to public, private and not-for-profit organisations. Based in Dubai, she leads the Middle East and Africa team on research across a range of sectors including food sustainability, recycling, renewable energy, fintech, trade and supply chains. She is a specialist in advanced recycling technologies and international trade. She is a seasoned moderator, having chaired numerous panel discussions and presented Economist Impact's research at global in-person and virtual conferences.

Before joining The Economist Group, she was a senior analyst at MEED Insight, a research and consulting firm serving Middle East and North Africa. At MEED, she developed expertise in bespoke market studies and financial modelling across a range of sectors spanning construction, finance, power and water, oil and gas, and renewable energy. She held previous posts at the Office of the Chief Economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre and at the San Francisco Center for Economic Development. Melanie has an MSc in International Strategy and Economics from the University of St Andrews and a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

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The countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) are in the midst of a health crisis. Close to 20% of the region’s population is suffering from diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes.

Rapidly rising incomes per head in the GCC have led to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and a shift to Western-style diets laden with sugar. Unchecked, this poses a substantial economic cost to the GCC, primarily in the form of increased healthcare expenditure to treat diabetes. However, our research shows that growing technology is facilitating a shift in approach to lifestyle diseases from being reactive to proactive. 

GCC Health 2.0: Tackling diabetes and obesity in an age of technological acceleration is a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by EY. It explores the role of technology in preventing and managing diabetes and obesity in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, highlighting the potential impact on patients and the healthcare system.

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