From Lifestyle Issue to Economic Priority: How Metabolic Health is Reshaping Policy and Healthcare Planning in the GCC

FINN partners launches research-led report and strategic communications playbook at WHX in Dubai

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As national strategies across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) shift from acute care to prevention, a new research-led report by FINN Partners, a full-service global marketing and communications consultancy, identifies metabolic health innovation, including GLP-1 therapies, as a key force accelerating this transformation. The report, Metabolic and Lifestyle Health in the GCC: Innovation, Access & Behavioural Change, examines how metabolic and lifestyle health is moving higher on policy, healthcare and economic agendas.

It highlights that the rapid adoption of GLP-1 therapies has reshaped how obesity is understood across healthcare systems, media, and public discourse. The report leverages proprietary data from the FINN Partners Global Intelligence Lab, revealing that narratives around safety and equity now travel as fast as innovation-led narratives. Furthermore, the volume of public discourse has surged, signalling that metabolic health has permanently entered the mainstream.

"To realize the full potential of this moment, leaders must embrace proactive narrative stewardship, fostering dialogues that prioritise system sustainability over short-term gains and ensuring the story of metabolic innovation is told with clarity, evidence, and cultural respect," said Aman Gupta, Managing Partner & Health Practice Lead, Asia and Middle East, FINN Partners.

To help organisations navigate this environment, the report presents a strategic six-pillar framework designed to transition leadership from reactive messaging to proactive narrative stewardship. This report is intended for healthcare leaders, communications professionals, policymakers, and med-tech companies who are shaping the future of metabolic and lifestyle health through innovation, access, and responsible system-wide transformation.

"The UAE and Saudi Arabia are often where innovation arrives first and where its implications are tested fastest," said Thomas Morris, Senior Partner, UAE, FINN Partners. "The organisations that succeed are those that focus on alignment, linking innovation clearly to prevention priorities, regulatory frameworks and long-term health ambitions."

"When innovation outpaces policy frameworks, it creates a vacuum often filled by misinformation. Leaders must act not just as manufacturers of medicine, but as architects of trust for patient's long-term well-being," said Gil Bashe, Chair Global Health and Purpose, FINN Partners.

Organisations that invest in thoughtful, evidence-led, and system-aware narrative shaping will be uniquely positioned to contribute to healthier populations and more resilient health systems.

Link to the report, Metabolic and Lifestyle Health in the GCC- https://www.spag.asia/news-insights/metabolic-and-lifestyle-health-in-the-gcc-innovation-access-behavioural-change/