When we talk about longevity, the conversation often centres on adding more years to life. For women, however, the more meaningful question is how those years are lived with good health, independence, energy and the ability to continue participating fully in family, professional and social life.
In the UAE, female life expectancy at birth reached around 84 years in 2024. As women live longer, the question of how those additional years are lived becomes increasingly important. Longevity should therefore be about more than extending lifespan; it should also be about extending the years in which women can remain healthy, active and independent.
Longevity for women must therefore begin much earlier than later life.
A woman’s health journey changes significantly across her lifetime. From adolescence and reproductive years to pregnancy, motherhood, perimenopause, menopause and beyond, each stage brings different physical, hormonal and emotional considerations. Healthcare must recognise these transitions rather than treating women’s health as a series of isolated episodes.
Prevention is an important part of that approach.
Women often manage multiple responsibilities — building careers, caring for families and supporting communities and their own health can sometimes be placed lower on the list of priorities. Yet prioritising health early can make a meaningful difference to wellbeing later.
This makes the case for starting early particularly important. A 2021 study of young adults in the UAE found that 76.6 per cent of its female participants were classified as sedentary or low-active based on daily step counts. The women in the study also spent around 82 per cent of their waking time sedentary. The study was conducted among university students and is not representative of all women in the UAE, but it offers a useful reminder that the foundations of healthy ageing are being shaped well before later life.
Healthy ageing is not something that begins at 60. It is shaped by habits and decisions made decades earlier.
Nutrition, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, stress management and appropriate preventive screening are fundamental building blocks. But prevention also means knowing when to seek medical advice, understanding personal risk factors and not dismissing persistent symptoms simply because they are associated with ageing, stress or a busy lifestyle.
Personalised healthcare has an important role to play here.
The broader longevity landscape is also evolving in Dubai. The recent approval of the strategy and operating budget of the Dubai Longevity Authority signals a move from establishing the longevity sector to implementing programmes, regulatory frameworks and initiatives focused on healthspan. The Authority’s remit spans areas including research, clinical trials, innovation and regulation, with an emphasis on creating a science-driven framework for longevity, wellness and advanced health.
The strategy targets annual growth of around 31 per cent and aims to contribute more than Dh35 billion to Dubai’s economy over the next decade. More importantly from a healthcare perspective, the development of this ecosystem reflects a growing focus on solutions that can help people live longer while remaining in good health.
This wider approach reinforces an important point for women’s health as well: improving longevity will require not only individual choices, but also science, innovation, responsible regulation and healthcare systems that can respond to women’s needs at different stages of life.
Women are not a single health category, and age alone cannot determine what an individual needs. Family history, lifestyle, reproductive history, hormonal changes and existing health risks can all influence the way a woman’s health evolves. Advances in diagnostics and digital health can increasingly help clinicians and individuals understand these differences and make more informed decisions.
The objective is not to medicalise every stage of life. It is to make healthcare more proactive, timely and relevant.
The menopause transition, for example, should be viewed as an important stage of a woman’s health journey rather than simply an endpoint to reproductive life. It can also be an opportunity to reassess cardiovascular, metabolic, bone and overall wellbeing, and to have informed conversations with healthcare professionals about individual needs.
The same principle applies much earlier. Young women should not have to wait until they develop a health concern before learning about prevention. Building awareness around nutrition, movement, mental wellbeing, reproductive health and healthy habits can create a stronger foundation for the decades ahead.
Technology can further support this shift by giving women greater access to health information and personalised insights. As Dubai develops a more structured longevity ecosystem bringing together innovation, talent, investment and regulation, there is also an opportunity to ensure that new technologies and health solutions are developed, tested and evaluated responsibly, with meaningful health outcomes at their core.
But information is only valuable when it leads to action. The ultimate goal should be to empower women to understand their health, ask the right questions and work with healthcare professionals to make informed choices.
Longevity for women, therefore, is not about pursuing an ideal age or trying to slow time. It is about increasing the number of years in which women can remain healthy, capable and independent.
It is also about changing the mindset around ageing. Growing older should not automatically be viewed as a period of decline. With the right preventive approach, timely care and healthier choices, it can be a stage of life characterised by continued purpose, participation and wellbeing.
As the conversation around longevity evolves, the opportunity is to make healthspan a more meaningful measure of progress, including for women. The goal should be not simply to add years to women’s lives, but to help ensure that more of those years are lived with health, independence and quality of life.
The conversation around women’s longevity needs to start much earlier, not when ageing becomes visible, but while there is still an opportunity to influence the journey.
Because the real measure of longevity is not simply how many birthdays we celebrate.
It is how well we are able to live them.
Moopen is the Managing Director & Group CEO, Aster DM Healthcare GCC
Source: Khaleej Times