Recognition follows Malaffi's achievement as first Health Information Exchange in the MENA region to implement comprehensive clinical data standardization.

Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (ADHDS), part of the M42 group, announced today that SNOMED International, a leading global clinical standards development organization, has officially recognized ADHDS as a Global Reference Site for Data Standardization and SNOMED CT implementation. This recognition follows the success of Malaffi, the first Health Information Exchange in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and a strategic initiative of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), in achieving a comprehensive, large-scale implementation of SNOMED CT data standard, setting a benchmark for healthcare interoperability across the region and globally.

The recognition was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed at the 8th edition of the ZIMAM Digital Health Forum by Kareem Shahin, Chief Executive Officer of ADHDS, and Don Sweete, Chief Executive Officer of SNOMED International.

As a Global Reference Site, ADHDS will serve as a model for healthcare systems across the UAE and broader region, sharing its proven methodologies and governance frameworks and best practices to advance digital transformation initiatives. The organization's expertise in multi-stakeholder collaboration, tailored clinical reference sets, and rigorous quality assurance processes provides a scalable blueprint for healthcare systems seeking to implement effective data standardization solutions.

Malaffi's team has achieved remarkable success in enhancing data quality and data standardization (including implementing SNOMED CT) across Abu Dhabi's healthcare ecosystem, which connects more than 3,000 healthcare facilities, with over 52,000 authorised users able to access 3.5 clinical records.

The SNOMED implementation encompasses multiple clinical domains including diagnoses, allergies, chronic diseases, family history, social history, and diagnostic procedures, ensuring consistent semantic representation across diverse healthcare settings in the emirate.

The implementation contributes to establishing a sustainable data standardization model that eliminates the need for 3rd party terminology servers while improving clinical data quality at the source EMRs.

The SNOMED CT implementation has created a foundation for AI-driven healthcare, enabling advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and improved clinical decision-making across the Emirate. The standardized data infrastructure supports real-time population health surveillance, disease registries, and evidence-based policy making, while enhancing patient safety and care coordination at the point of care.

The implementation success was made possible with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi’s guidance on coding standards issued in November 2021, combined with the UAE's membership in SNOMED International. This regulatory framework, paired with ADHDS's dedicated implementation support and quality monitoring processes, created the foundation for sustainable adoption across the healthcare ecosystem.

H.E. Ibrahim Al Jallaf, Executive Director of Digital Health Sector at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: "The success of Malaffi's SNOMED CT implementation demonstrates how public-private partnerships can drive transformational change in healthcare delivery in Abu Dhabi. As we continue to build a smart, patient-centric healthcare system by adopting the latest technologies to enhance care quality and improve health outcomes for the community, this step marks a significant milestone, further strengthening Abu Dhabi’s position as a leading destination for healthcare,".

"Our success demonstrates that comprehensive data standardization is achievable at scale when you combine strong regulatory support, dedicated implementation expertise, and continuous improvement. Standardized, high-quality data is essential for AI applications that will define the future of healthcare. By creating this robust foundation, we are reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s position at the forefront of AI-driven healthcare innovation, enabling predictive analytics and personalized medicine at scale. This partnership and recognition positions ADHDS as an interoperability center of excellence, ready to support digital transformation initiatives across the UAE and broader Middle East region," said Kareem Shahin, Chief Executive Officer of M42’s Digital Health Solutions platform.

"ADHDS and Malaffi represent the gold standard for healthcare data standardization implementation," said Don Sweete, Chief Executive Officer of SNOMED International. "Their achievement in connecting thousands of healthcare facilities while maintaining semantic consistency across diverse EMR systems demonstrates the transformative power of SNOMED CT when implemented with proper governance, stakeholder collaboration, and technical excellence. We are proud to recognize them as a Global Reference Site and look forward to their continued leadership in advancing healthcare interoperability globally."

The initiative's success in creating semantic interoperability while establishing cost-effective sustainability demonstrates that international clinical coding standards can be successfully implemented at scale, providing a blueprint for healthcare digitization efforts globally.

The detailed analysis of ADHDS/Malaffi's SNOMED CT implementation journey and methodology, can be accessed via: https://bit.ly/4nHKN4z