Infectious Disease in the UAE Health System

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a multinational country with a high expatriate population, contributing to the diversity of infectious diseases in the country. Historically, the UAE’s last outbreak of smallpox was in 1971, thanks to the concerted efforts of a mass vaccination program that continues today to reduce the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases in the country. Given strong public health measures, the UAE today is a low-burden and low-risk country for global threats like tuberculosis and malaria. On the other hand, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged in the UAE, mirroring global trends as a result of the misuse of antimicrobials. As of 2020, an average of 35% of common pathogens in the UAE have been shown to be multi-drug resistant (MDR), 4.6% extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and 0.7% pan-drug resistant (PDR). The country established AMR surveillance in 2010, starting in Abu Dhabi, and then nationally in 2015. Finally, the UAE’s response to the current COVID-19 pandemic has been robust, and by November 2021, 100% of the UAE’s population had been vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in a mortality rate of only 0.24%, making it one of the lowest in the world.