The Department of Health-Abu Dhabi, National Health Insurance Company – Daman, The Authority of Social Contribution - Ma’an, Etihad Airways and seven large public and private Healthcare Providers have combined their efforts with Plug and Play ADGM to form the ‘Alliance to fight COVID-19’ (AFC-19)
The aim is to bring some of the best startups from across the globe to collaborate in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic across the region. AFC-19 is part of the Abu Dhabi Health Tech Accelerator.
To implement DoH’s vision of a “Healthier Abu Dhabi”, Plug and Play helps to identify and attract the best local, regional, and international startups and tech companies.
For COVID-19, Plug and Play is providing a range of emergency response services, in addition to supporting the AFC-19 members throughout this pandemic. These services include virtual webinars for knowledge/best practices exchange and adhoc startup sourcing from their local and global network within health, travel, enterprise solutions, supply chain, and logistics.
Salama Al Ameemi, director general of Ma’an, said, “Start-ups, social enterprises and non-profit associations have a vital role to play in making a positive social impact in Abu Dhabi, whether it is during the current challenges or more long term.
“At Ma’an, we recognise that mental health is an extremely important social priority with, on average, one in four people suffering from a mental health challenge at some point in their life globally. In Abu Dhabi we are proud to be at the centre of the conversation to understand the support communities need to cope with mental wellbeing challenges and find effective and workable solutions – through the Ma’an Social Incubator and through the new AFC-19 initiative.
“There has never been a more important and crucial time to accelerate the growth of start-ups working in this area and we look forward to working with our partners through Plug and Play ADGM to identify new ideas that can contribute to the national effort at this time.”
