The largest healthcare trade exhibition in the world, held in Dubai and rebranded WHX Dubai, whose relevance to the digital health circuit is WHX Tech: a dedicated digital health and AI conference co-delivered with HIMSS that gathers thousands of health-IT professionals each January.
Arab Health, rebranded WHX Dubai (World Health Expo), is the largest healthcare trade exhibition in the world, held annually in Dubai and organised by Informa Markets. Alongside an exhibition of more than 4,300 device, diagnostics and healthcare companies, it anchors World Healthcare Week and runs WHX Tech, a dedicated digital health conference co-delivered with HIMSS. WHX Tech is the reason the event features in the digital health circuit: it gathers thousands of digital health and AI professionals across stages covering AI in care delivery, health data and digital infrastructure.
Arab Health is first a clinical-device and diagnostics marketplace at enormous scale, drawing hospital procurement, manufacturers and distributors from across the Middle East, Africa and beyond. For a digital health audience, the value sits in WHX Tech and the AI and transformation stages on the main programme, which connect chief information officers, health-IT vendors and digital health start-ups with the procurement power of the wider event. The combination of a regional clinical mega-fair with a HIMSS-backed digital health conference is what makes it a relevant fixture rather than a purely device-focused show. Compared with practitioner-scale gatherings such as Frontiers Health in Berlin or the R&D-focused BioTechX Europe in Basel, Arab Health operates at a different order of magnitude: it is a regional procurement and policy platform first, a digital health conference second.
Arab Health's 50th-anniversary edition ran 9-12 February 2026 at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City Dubai, ending the event's 50-year residency at the Dubai World Trade Centre. It was on this edition that Informa announced the rebrand to World Health Expo (WHX Dubai), consolidating its Dubai healthcare portfolio, including WHX Labs (formerly Medlab Middle East), under a single global brand. Gulf News reported the move to a 74,402 square metre exhibition space at Expo City, an 11,343 square metre expansion, alongside the headline organiser figures of 235,000+ professional visitors and 4,300 exhibitors from more than 180 countries. Solenne Singer, Senior Vice President at Informa Markets, was quoted at the time: "Following the success of our 50th edition earlier this year, WHX continues to grow in scale and significance. The Dubai Exhibition Centre offers the scale and flexibility we need to meet rising global demand." Sholto Douglas-Home, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Expo City Dubai, added: "Through this partnership, we are creating new platforms for the global healthcare community to connect, showcase and collaborate. WHX is a landmark event on the international health calendar."
The event's next edition, 25-28 January 2027, is the first to run fully under the WHX Dubai name across both the Dubai Exhibition Centre and the Dubai World Trade Centre, with WHX Labs running concurrently at DWTC. This is a change in venue footprint as much as branding: the Arab Health name remains widely used and recognised, but the 2027 edition is the first World Healthcare Week to span two physical sites rather than one.
The wider event spans the healthcare industry; the digital health and AI content concentrates in specific tracks:
A April 2026 analysis in Health Data Management, written from the Dubai show floor, described the shift in tone directly: AI content at WHX 2026 concentrated on "operational deployment rather than theoretical potential." The article quoted a data-strategy commentator noting that "the constraint is no longer an algorithmic capability, it is data architecture maturity," and pointed to Malaffi, the Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange, as a working example of interoperability treated as national infrastructure rather than a vendor feature. The same coverage tied the programme to the UAE National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which names healthcare a priority sector while stressing governance and responsible innovation, and flagged cybersecurity as a foundational theme given healthcare's position as the costliest sector globally for data breaches.
WHX Tech is the component of the event most directly relevant to a digital health audience. Its most recently confirmed edition ran as a standalone conference, 8-10 September 2025 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, drawing an organiser-reported 4,200+ healthcare professionals, 200+ speakers, 300+ exhibiting brands, 48 startups and 66 investors. Named speakers at that edition included Dr. David Rhew of Microsoft, Dr. Sam Shah of NEOM, Reenita Das of Frost & Sullivan, Dr. Myriam Fernandez of AWS, Dr. James Mault of BioIntelliSense, Dr. Meong Hi Son of Samsung Medical Center, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Health, Dr. Rashmi Rao of Philips, and Dr. Harvey Castro, an adviser to the Singapore government. Astronaut and physician Scott Parazynski was quoted afterward: "WHX Tech was vital in bringing together experts across engineering, medicine, investment, and government." Jorgen Ellis, CEO of Strolll, credited the event with an early regional win: "We just expanded into the region one week ago, and this win is a great start."
For the 2027 cycle, WHX Tech moves from its previous standalone autumn slot to run inside World Healthcare Week itself, 27-29 January 2027 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, alongside the main WHX Dubai exhibition rather than as a separate event months apart. The organiser projects 5,000+ digital health professionals, 200 speakers, 200+ brands and representatives from 30+ countries for that edition. Founding Advisors named for the 2027 programme include Microsoft, Frost & Sullivan, NEOM and BioIntelliSense; Amazon Web Services is named Exclusive Digital Health Partner; and Dell Technologies, GE Healthcare, Huawei and Oracle are listed as strategic partners. Confirmed speakers for 2027 include entrepreneur Heather Monahon, Dr. Meong Hi Son of Samsung Medical Center, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Health, Dr. Rashmi Rao, Chief Product Officer at Philips, and Dr. Harvey Castro.
Major healthcare companies confirmed for the WHX Dubai exhibition floor include Philips, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Canon (named AI partner for the main exhibition), Draegerwerk, United Imaging, American Hospital, Almoosa Health Group, Saudi German Health, and Al Khayyat Investments, alongside government participation from the UAE Ministry of Health and Dubai Health Authority. Siemens Healthineers has confirmed a booth (N23.D10) specifically to showcase digital and AI-driven radiology solutions, illustrating how device manufacturers use the floor to present digital health capability rather than hardware alone. The exhibition spans nine major product areas and more than 30 country pavilions, including Slovakia, Thailand and Croatia.
Coverage of Arab Health and its WHX Dubai rebrand splits by outlet type and timing:
Press and media enquiries are handled through a dedicated press office. The organiser does not publicly disclose accredited journalist counts or a full formal media-partner list as of this verification.
Because of WHX Tech. Arab Health is primarily a clinical and device exhibition, but it runs a substantial digital health and AI conference co-delivered with HIMSS, plus AI and transformation stages on the main programme. That digital health programme, at significant scale, is the reason it features here.
The event, run for 50 years as Arab Health, was rebranded World Health Expo (WHX Dubai) during its 50th-anniversary edition in February 2026, alongside a move from its long-standing home at the Dubai World Trade Centre to a larger footprint at Expo City Dubai. The 25-28 January 2027 edition is the first to run entirely under the WHX name across both venues. The Arab Health name remains widely used and recognised in the market.
Yes. For 50 years the event was held solely at the Dubai World Trade Centre. From 2026 it added the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai as its primary hall for healthcare and MedTech buyers, while DWTC continues to host laboratory, pharma and biotech streams as well as WHX Tech.
From 2026 Arab Health spans two venues: the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai, the new primary hall for healthcare and MedTech buyers, and the Dubai World Trade Centre, the long-standing home of the event since 1979, which now hosts the laboratory, pharma and biotech streams together with WHX Tech and WHX Labs.
Informa Markets, a division of Informa PLC, organises Arab Health and its World Healthcare Week format, including WHX Tech, the digital health conference run with HIMSS, and the WHX Labs laboratory event. Informa operates a wide portfolio of healthcare and trade events globally, and the WHX brand is positioned explicitly as a unifying label across its regional healthcare exhibitions.
Arab Health, rebranded WHX Dubai, is the largest healthcare exhibition in the world; for the digital health circuit its relevance is WHX Tech, the co-located conference run with HIMSS that gathers thousands of digital health and AI professionals in Dubai each January. Readers tracking the wider circuit of upcoming EMEA and MENA events should treat the 2027 edition as a structural reset rather than a routine annual return: new venue, unified WHX branding, and WHX Tech folded into the same calendar week for the first time.
Trade exhibition access is free to qualified professionals, registered through the official site. The WHX Tech digital health conference and the CME-accredited conferences carry separate delegate fees. Specific 2027 pricing was not publicly disclosed as of verification.
Across two venues from 2026: the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai and the Dubai World Trade Centre.
No. Exhibition access is free to qualified professionals, but WHX Tech and the CME-accredited conferences carry separate delegate fees.
The event has been presented as WHX Dubai since its 50th-anniversary edition in February 2026, part of the World Health Expo brand, though the Arab Health name remains widely recognised in the market.
WHX Tech last ran as a standalone conference 8-10 September 2025 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Its next edition moves into World Healthcare Week itself, running 27-29 January 2027 alongside the main WHX Dubai exhibition rather than as a separate autumn event.
| Official website | https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/healthcare/dubai/ |
| WHX Tech | https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/healthcare/tech/ |
| Register | https://www.worldhealthexpo.com/events/healthcare/dubai/en/attend/register.html |
| Press and media enquiries | https://www.arabhealthonline.com/en/media/press-releases.html |
| Digital health circuit (Events Index) | /digital-health.html |
| Frontiers Health (Events Index) | /events/frontiers-health.html |
| BioTechX Europe (Events Index) | /events/biotechx-europe.html |
| Upcoming EMEA events (Events Index) | /upcoming.html |