The UAE’s healthcare system has secured one of the strongest trust scores in the world, with a new global report placing the country’s health institutions well above the international average at a time when confidence in healthcare is eroding elsewhere.
The Edelman Trust in Healthcare Report 2026, which surveyed more than 16,000 respondents across 16 countries — including roughly 1,000 in the UAE — found confidence in the country’s local and national health authorities reaching approximately 90 per cent, positioning it among the top performers globally. The findings were reported by Al Khaleej newspaper.
Sector-by-sector data reflected the same pattern. Hospitals matched the overall authority confidence figure at around 90 per cent. Health technology companies came in at 86 per cent, local pharmacies at 85 per cent, and consumer health services at a comparable level. Pharmaceutical firms registered 84 per cent trust, private health insurance providers at roughly 82 per cent, and the nutrition sector at 77 per cent.
Confidence in healthcare companies broadly stood at around 85 per cent, with a near-identical share expressing trust in government regulators overseeing medicines, vaccines, and medical devices — figures that, taken together, suggest the regulatory framework underpinning the system carries as much credibility as service providers themselves.
The results arrive as the UAE moves to deepen its use of artificial intelligence in health management. The country’s high institutional trust base could prove significant in that rollout, as AI-driven healthcare tools have contributed to the global fragmentation in public confidence — particularly in markets where debate over health policy and emerging technologies has sharpened divisions between populations and their health authorities.
