The true test of any thriving society is its impartial treatment of all who call it home and its ability to evolve and adapt over time in line with the needs of its people. Sometimes, these needs can be as mundane as everyday feeding decisions, which, under extreme situations, can require breakthrough solutions. 

In war zones and disaster areas, food can become a serious problem for Muslim soldiers and refugees. The US Military's packaged, ready-to-eat meals (MREs) were a huge success when they were first introduced during the Second World War. They were built to last a long time without going bad.

But as more people of different faiths, specifically Muslims, joined the armed forces, the question of a lack of halal-certified meat or chicken options in the standard MREs became an issue.
 

The US military tried to fix this by offering "pork-free" versions, thinking that would solve the problem. But it didn't because the underlying issues weren't being addressed. Even the vegetarian meals caused issues, because they contained ingredients that Muslims aren't allowed to eat — things like additives made from animals, artificial flavors with questionable sources, and food made in facilities where everything gets mixed together.

For Muslim service members, refugees, and people of faith, every meal became a difficult choice between staying fed and staying true to their beliefs. In the past, Muslims stuck in these tough situations could fall back on an Islamic rule called Darurah, which basically means "extreme necessity." This rule allows a Muslim to eat forbidden food if they are literally in danger of starving. 

But the rule was meant for extreme situations and raised another dilemma: should a soldier or anyone serving their country, or a person fleeing a disaster, really have to break their religious rules just to survive? Or go without food for a long time?

The answer was clearly no. It was obvious that the rule of Darurah wasn't a permanent solution. For a long-term solution, there had to be a way to create a proper, fully certified halal meal that could survive on a battlefield or in a disaster zone. And once that was achieved, then to convince the government to buy and use it.

This was too big a goal for any single entity or individual to achieve on its own. It took a historic team effort between a forward-thinking food entrepreneur, My Own Meals, Inc. (MOM), and a religious and scientific organization, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).
 

A bold idea: Mary Anne Jackson and ‘My Own Meals’

Military labs are all about finding quick stop-gap solutions; they don't have the bandwidth or the deep technical knowledge that is required to formulate a solution for a halal MRE. Instead, it was the foresight and enterprise of a regular civilian businesswoman. In the 1980s, Mary Anne Jackson, who had previously worked as a senior food industry executive, started a company called My Own Meals, Inc. (MOM), along with its halal division, J&M Food Products Company.

Jackson was ahead of her time. She adopted technology used by the US military — a process in which food is sealed in flexible foil pouches and cooked under high pressure so it lasts for years without needing a fridge — and applied it to create everyday meals for consumers. Over time, she added foil pouches and individual plastic meal trays to her product range. This type of long-lasting, no-fridge-needed meal didn't yet exist in regular American stores, so Jackson had to work hard to convince people that this new packaging was safe to eat.

As conflicts and wars began to escalate in the early 1990s, the US Defense Logistics Agency — the part of the military that handles supplies — was struggling to find enough meals that met religious dietary requirements. Instead of waiting around for the military to lower its standards or force Muslim soldiers to compromise, Jackson decided to act.

She had the vision to understand that real halal food couldn't just be a label slapped on a package — it had to be truly and completely halal, from top to bottom. 

To make something that Muslim soldiers and refugees could eat with full confidence in their faith, she knew she needed expert religious guidance. So she reached out to IFANCA.

The hard part: Making a meal that's both long-lasting and truly halal

While all the pieces were now in place, the partnership between J&M Food Products and IFANCA still faced a massive challenge. Making a halal MRE meant going through every single part of the meal-making process and checking it against Islamic food rules — right down to the tiniest ingredients.

To make a meal that could last five years in extreme conditions like deserts or war zones, IFANCA and Jackson's team had to solve several big problems:

• Getting rid of questionable ingredients: The high-heat cooking process used to preserve MREs destroys many plant-based ingredients, which normally forces manufacturers to use additives derived from animals — such as certain fats, gels, and enzymes. All of these had to be carefully swapped out for plant-based versions or thoroughly checked against synthetic alternatives that could survive the intense heat without breaking down.
   
• Keeping the equipment clean and separate: MREs are made in huge factories that run nonstop. IFANCA, being well aware of the sensitive nature of the task at hand, put strict rules in place to make sure the giant pressure cookers and sealing machines used for halal meals were completely separated from the machines used for non-halal meals. This was to make sure there was zero chance — not even a tiny amount — of cross-contamination or mixing between halal and non-halal food.
   
• Checking everything in the package: IFANCA didn't cut corners or focus only on the big picture by looking at the main meal alone. They checked every single item inside the sealed MRE bag — the drink powders, the small accessory packets, and even the industrial oils used on the packaging machines — to ensure everything met Islamic standards.

A historic achievement

Thanks to Jackson's careful engineering and IFANCA's deep knowledge of Islamic law applied to modern food science, the final result was a historic achievement that cannot be overstated. J&M Food Products successfully created meat-based combat meals that met strict halal slaughter standards, as well as vegetarian meals that earned a rare double certification — both fully halal (certified by IFANCA) and fully kosher at the same time.

This breakthrough changed military food supply worldwide. The US military now had proper, long-lasting halal MREs for Muslim soldiers serving abroad. And beyond the military, these meals set the standard for disaster relief too — whenever a natural disaster or conflict forces Muslim communities from their homes, these fully certified meals can be sent in right away, giving people both the food they need to survive and the peace of mind that comes from knowing their faith is respected.
 

A legacy that goes beyond emergency rules

The story of the halal MRE shows what can happen when a bold business leader and a knowledgeable religious organization work together with purpose. Mary Anne Jackson understood the power of faith and how properly prepared meals can nourish and feed people, bring people together, and make a nation stronger and more united.

So, to achieve her goal, she actively sought out the religious expertise needed to make it something Muslims could truly trust.

Together, MOM and IFANCA proved that Islamic food laws don't have to be a roadblock to modern technology. By cracking the challenge of long-lasting food preservation, they made sure that even in the toughest places on Earth, a Muslim soldier or refugee never has to choose between staying alive and staying true to their faith.

Even though it is a predominantly Catholic country of approximately 113 million, of which Muslim households made up around 6.4%, the Philippine government has intensified its policy and institutional support for the global halal market since 2024.

Two major initiatives represent a shift from ambition to organized execution: the Philippine Halal Industry Development Strategic Plan 2024–2028 and the National Halal Industry and Development Office (NHIDO).

The policy framework
The strategic plan, unveiled in 2024, sets targets to double the number of halal-certified products and services from around 3,000 to 6,000, create 120,000 jobs, and attract P230 billion (roughly $4 billion) in investment across the four-year plan period to 2028. 
 

To ensure that halal development is treated as a cross-cutting economic project rather than a single ministry's brief, a nine-agency task force oversees it, with NHIDO serving as the implementation body.

The office serves as the central coordinating body for all halal development work across the country, simplifying certification for micro, small, and medium enterprises, building halal trade hubs across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, partnering with local government units on halal-compliant infrastructure, and managing a comprehensive halal industry database. Certification bottlenecks have historically been one of the biggest barriers for small Filipino producers entering the halal market. NHIDO's explicit mandate to tackle this is one of the more practically important elements of the agenda as a whole.

The scope of both initiatives deliberately extends beyond food. Halal-compliant tourism, Islamic finance, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and modest fashion are all named as part of the framework, though the degree of implementation varies across these sectors.

The broader framing is a deliberate policy choice: it repositions halal from a niche of religious compliance into an economy-wide growth sector, driven by international buyers who associate halal certification with safety, hygiene, and ethical production standards.

From strategy to street level
The Manila Halal Festival in March 2026 was a litmus test, illustrating how the policy is beginning to translate into ground-level commercial activity. Around 100 vendors, most specializing in food, snacks, sweets, and supplements, gathered in the capital for a three-day event co-organized by the city government, the Department of Tourism, and the DTI. The exhibitor list included producers of halal pastillas, the Philippines' first certified halal ice cream, beauty products, and food supplies, alongside certification bodies, government agencies, and international pavilions from Indonesia and Canada.

The festival made visible how halal certification is already functioning as a market entry credential for small Filipino producers. Vendors at the event reported gaining new customer segments in the Gulf specifically because of certification, families buying to bring products to Qatar or Saudi Arabia, and export orders to the UAE that began with a single overseas inquiry. The pattern was consistent across food categories: certification opens a door that was previously closed, and Gulf demand is pulling Filipino products through it.

These were small businesses, not export-ready multinationals. But that was precisely the point the 2024–2028 plan is built around: if certification infrastructure is accessible and internationally recognized, SMEs can compete in Gulf markets without the scale that currently makes it difficult. 

"The Philippine halal industry is now aggressively developing its place in a trillion-dollar global industry — building the full halal ecosystem from farm to plate," said Ismail Abaya, Founder and President of 1Halal Global Inc. and Executive Vice President of MASLAHA Halal Certification Board Inc.

The same sentiment was later echoed by Grace Aguilar, Founder and President of Halal Expo Philippines, in an interview with Salaam Gateway. "The Philippines is emerging as one of Southeast Asia's most promising halal markets, driven by strong government support, growing consumer awareness, and increasing interest from both local and international investors. With its strategic location, young population, and commitment to becoming a global halal hub, the country offers tremendous opportunities across food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and Islamic finance. Halal Expo Philippines was created to serve as the platform that connects businesses, fosters partnerships, and accelerates the growth of the halal ecosystem in the Philippines and beyond, " she said. 

The sectoral depth
Beyond food, the government is simultaneously building out the halal ecosystem in several directions. The Department of Tourism has accredited over 42 Muslim-friendly accommodation establishments, including major hotel groups and resorts. Infrastructure investments include the Marhaba Boracay Cove, an 800-square-meter beach area designed for Muslim travelers, with similar facilities planned for Bohol and Cebu. A QR-code-based Muslim-friendly travel log is in development to help visitors locate halal food, prayer spaces, and services.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority is creating dedicated halal economic zones, and the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is strengthening the Islamic banking sector to provide the financial infrastructure the wider halal industry requires. A collaboration with Turkey on halal-certified poultry production is also underway, to develop a regional hub that leverages Turkish expertise in animal-byproduct-free feed.

On the trade side, the Philippines has been promoting its halal sector at expos in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Canada, and has reported export deals from its international halal promotion campaigns. However, the exact figures have not been corroborated by a single primary source.

Officials are also pursuing mutual recognition arrangements with Muslim-majority countries to ease market access for Philippine products, a critical step given that international recognition of certification bodies is often the deciding factor in whether export opportunities open up.

The challenge is execution at scale
The policy framework is more coherent than anything the Philippines has attempted in this space before. The combination of a four-year plan, a dedicated coordinating office, MSME support infrastructure, tourism investment, and export promotion is a genuine strategy rather than a collection of disconnected announcements.

The Philippines still has a relatively small certified product base — 3,000 products is modest against regional competitors — and the certification system needs to expand and gain broader international recognition quickly enough to meet the 2028 targets. The domestic Muslim population provides a domestic market foundation, but the harder task is building export supply chains, securing recognition of standards, and developing production capacity to compete internationally.

There’s a particular relief in finding a snack you can eat without checking every ingredient. The growth of halal snack brands reflects that demand. This list focuses on some of the popular snack brands among Muslim consumers globally.

Mamee-Double Decker — Malaysia

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Melaka, Mamee-Double Decker is among the most widely distributed dedicated halal snack brands in the world.The brand's snack portfolio includes Mister Potato chips, Corntoz corn snacks, and Double Decker biscuits.

Halal certification: JAKIM (Malaysia) — Malaysia's Department of Islamic Development.

Saffron Road (Chickpea snacks line) — United States

Founded in 2009 by Adnan Durrani and based in Connecticut, the brand positioned itself as a premium, ethical, world cuisine snack and frozen food company. The brand appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in 2015 and 2016.

Halal certification: IFANCA — the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America.

Al Rifai — Lebanon

Founded in Beirut in 1948 as a home-based roasted nut operation, the company has grown into what it describes as the largest snacking nut retailer in the Middle East, with around 40 percent market share in Lebanon. 

Halal certification: Products are composed of inherently permissible ingredients (nuts, dried fruits, plant-based snacks); no pork derivatives or alcohol in the core range. 

National Food Industries — UAE 

Founded in 1977 with a single packing machine in Dubai, National Food Industries has grown into one of the leading snack manufacturers in the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Mr Krisps, Emirates Pofaki, Mr Pofak, Doodles, Bakeman's, and Sinbad. According to the company's own website, NFI has expanded to over 35 countries. 

Halal certification: HACCP and Halal certified, as confirmed on the brand's own website and its Dubai Exports accreditation.

Ülker — Turkiye

Ülker is Turkiye's dominant biscuit, chocolate, and confectionery brand, founded in 1944 in Istanbul. According to its Wikipedia entry and its parent company Pladis's brand page, Ülker products are exported to 110 countries. 

Halal certification: All production adheres to halal food standards per Pladis/Ülker's own published statements; Turkiye's domestic food production is governed by standards consistent with halal requirements.

Munchy's — Malaysia

Munchy's has been producing biscuits, wafers, and crackers out of Malaysia since 1991. Its core range — butter cookies, cream-filled wafers, chocolate biscuits, and oat-based crackers — fills supermarket shelves across Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and Thailand, while export operations extend to the Middle East, the UK, and Australia.

Halal certification: JAKIM (Malaysia).

Hunter Foods — UAE 

Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone, Hunter Foods exports to over 60 countries. Its brand portfolio spans Hunter's Gourmet, Hunter, Safari, Aladin, and Ali Baba, covering hand-cooked potato chips, vegetable chips, quinoa chips, and organic superfoods. The Hunter's Gourmet premium range — known for its truffle and specialty flavours — is stocked in airline minibars, luxury hotel chains, and premium retailers across its export markets. 

Halal certification: Halal-certified since 2017, alongside HACCP and ISO 22000, as confirmed on the brand's website.

Chips Oman (Ali Shaihani Food Industries) — Oman 

Chips Oman traces its origins to 1989, when Al Jufair Food Industries emerged from the bifurcation of Ali Shaihani Food Industries. Its flagship product — chilli-flavoured potato chips — has become one of the most recognisable snacks across Oman and the wider Gulf, instantly identifiable by its red-and-blue packaging. Distribution spans the GCC, with diaspora reach into international markets through specialist retailers. 

Halal certification: Produced in Oman under GCC food safety regulations, which embed halal compliance as a baseline standard for domestic food manufacturing.
 

Al Rifai Arabia — Kuwait / Saudi Arabia

Not to be confused with Lebanon's Al Rifai, Al Rifai Arabia is a separate Gulf-based brand — originally Kuwaiti-operated — that has been producing roasted nuts, seeds, and dried fruits for the Gulf market for decades. It operates retail outlets across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Egypt, and Jordan, and its products are available through international shipping. 

Halal certification: Inherently halal product range (roasted nuts, seeds, dried fruits) produced under GCC food safety regulations.

Ziba Foods — United States

Ziba Foods occupies a specific and increasingly popular corner of the halal snack market: premium, clean-label dried fruit and nut snacks with an Afghan and Central Asian provenance. Founded by a partnership of American and Afghan entrepreneurs, the brand produces dried pomegranate arils, figs, nut mixes, and fruit-and-nut packs sourced from Afghan farms, with no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives.

Halal certification: Vegan-certified; products are inherently permissible by ingredient composition but do not currently carry a published third-party halal certificate.

 

Methodology

To build a credible and reproducible list, this article uses a hierarchy of publicly verifiable signals.

• Countries of retail distribution (primary metric): The clearest available measure of a snack brand's global reach is the number of national markets in which its products physically appear. This is verifiable through brand websites, stockist pages, and distributor announcements, though it is worth noting that companies do not all use the same counting standards. A brand present in 100 countries through one large distributor is not the same as one embedded in 100 national retail networks. The metric is directional, not precise.
   
• Number of confirmed retail stockist locations (secondary metric): Where publicly confirmed figures are available — for instance, a brand documented as stocking in over 5,000 shops or 20,000 retail locations — this helps differentiate brands with similar geographic spread.
   
• Credibility and duration of halal certification (tertiary metric): Brands with documented third-party halal certification from recognised bodies rank above brands where certification is self-declared, implicit, or absent. The certification body for each brand is cited from its own public documentation. 
   

• A small number of entries on this list consist entirely of plant-based ingredients — nuts, dried fruits, seeds — that are inherently permissible under Islamic law regardless of whether a formal certificate has been issued. This is a recognised category in Islamic food jurisprudence and is distinct from vegan certification, which carries no Islamic legal weight on its own. Brands in this sub-category are included only where they are meaningfully embedded in Muslim food culture — through founder background, primary market, or cultural use — not simply because their ingredient list happens to be permissible. Each such entry notes the absence of third-party certification explicitly.

* Note: For this list, “snack brand” is used broadly to include packaged sweet and savoury snacks, crisps, biscuits, crackers, snack bars, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, popcorn, and confectionery. Brands whose relevant halal range is mainly frozen meals, cooking sauces, staples, or pantry ingredients are excluded unless they also have a distinct packaged snack line with meaningful retail distribution.

A legal shift regarding the slaughter of animals on religious grounds is underway across Europe, one that could reshape the future of halal meat production. 

While EU law still contains a derogation for ritual slaughter, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in 2020 that member states may require reversible pre-stunning in the name of animal welfare. Then, in February 2024, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the Belgian regional bans and accepted animal welfare as part of “public morality” that can justify limits on religious manifestation. 

While those rulings did not impose a continent-wide ban, taken together, they have lowered the legal risk for countries that want one, shifting the debate from pure law to politics.

What the rulings actually changed

Belgium became the key test case. The regions of Flanders and Wallonia introduced rules requiring animals to be stunned before slaughter while allowing reversible stunning that does not kill the animal outright. Jewish and Muslim groups argued that the law interfered with their religious practices.

The European Court of Human Rights disagreed. Judges concluded that the Belgian authorities were entitled to prioritise animal welfare within the framework of European human rights law. Governments, the court said, have a margin of appreciation when balancing competing interests such as religious freedom and ethical concerns about animal suffering.

The decision established a powerful precedent, one that allowed European states not to ban ritual slaughter outright, but to require pre-stunning and present it as a welfare measure that still leaves room for religious accommodation.

That legal formula now sits in the background of national debates across the continent.

Will other European countries follow suit?

That has opened the door to other governments attempting similar measures, although the ground reality of it happening so far has been mixed.

The Netherlands illustrates how the debate could evolve. Ritual slaughter remains legal without stunning, yet a legislative proposal backed by the Party for the Animals seeks to require reversible stunning. The Dutch Council of State has already suggested that animal welfare may now carry greater weight when governments balance it against religious freedom.

Developments elsewhere suggest a slower pace. Brussels rejected a comparable ban. Britain debated the subject in parliament in 2025 and confirmed that religious exemptions would remain in place. Germany continues to grant exemptions under its Animal Welfare Act where slaughter without stunning is necessary for religious communities.

Europe, therefore, appears headed toward a patchwork rather than a unified policy. Countries with strong animal welfare movements and lower political costs may consider tighter rules, while others are likely to proceed with caution.

That uncertainty is reflected in how experts interpret the current legal moment. Awal Fuseini, senior halal manager at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, points out that the rulings have created space for action without setting a single direction of travel.

“EU Regulation 1099 allows member states to permit slaughter without stunning for religious reasons, and there is no EU-wide ban. Some stunning methods, such as head-only electrical stunning, are already accepted within parts of the Muslim community. The concern is that once countries realise they have the legal space to restrict non-stun slaughter, it could lead to a wider domino effect across Europe.”

Britain’s contrasting approach

The British debate perhaps highlights a different policy route in which governments may tighten oversight or improve transparency without moving directly to a ban. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the RSPCA), 88% of halal slaughter in the UK is stunned. Furthermore, according to an analysis by the Halal Food Information Centre, non-stun slaughter (halal and kosher) accounts for 2.9% of animals in the UK, well below the 7% Muslim and Jewish population. This makes an important case of whether imposing the ban is about animal welfare or more about optics.

It wasn't a surprise when, in June 2025, British members of parliament revisited the question of non-stun slaughter, deciding against removing religious exemptions. Ministers emphasised existing slaughterhouse regulation, trained operators, and veterinary supervision. Several MPs expressed interest in clearer labelling rather than prohibition.

The argument for tighter bans

The European Court of Human Rights emphasised that democratic societies attach increasing importance to animal welfare. European institutions have also begun reviewing broader animal welfare legislation, indicating that the regulatory framework is still evolving.

Advocates of reform also argue that religious freedom has limits. Liberal democracies place boundaries around religious practices when public interests are involved. In their view, slaughter practices fall within that category.

The argument against bans

Opponents of bans accept the need to protect animal welfare. Their concern lies with proportionality and consistency.

Critics argue that ritual slaughter has become a highly visible target while other welfare issues attract less scrutiny. Industrial slaughter errors and transport stress raise serious welfare questions, yet they rarely dominate political debate in the same way.

European Commission coordinator Katharina von Schnurbein warned several years ago that ritual slaughter debates can push Jewish and Muslim communities into defensive positions. 

Industry voices raise practical concerns as well. Rizvan Khalid, managing director of Euro Quality Lambs Ltd, describes the current approach as “a sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut approach rather than a more nuanced approach to assess welfare against religious rights.”

He argues that stunning is not a panacea, adding that “mis-stuns, which are very painful, routinely occur.” Blanket bans may also drive demand toward imported meat produced outside the EU, potentially under weaker welfare conditions.

Khalid also points to a gap in policy thinking. Electric head-only stunning is accepted by some halal authorities, while gas or captive-bolt stunning remains controversial. Greater investment in identifying compatible methods could improve welfare without excluding religious practices.

A debate far from settled

Context matters, and the conflict, while often framed as a technical dispute about slaughter methods, points to a deeper question of how far European communities are willing to accommodate religious difference when it conflicts with secular ethical norms. 

A gradual shift toward stricter regulation appears likely in some countries. Others may favour incremental reforms such as improved labelling, tighter oversight, or research into reversible stunning.

More than slaughterhouse policy, the outcome will influence how European states reconcile animal welfare with religious freedom in increasingly diverse societies.

Precision medicine is fast emerging as a transformative force across the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries. 

By harnessing breakthroughs in genomics, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence, these nations are laying the groundwork for a future of personalized prevention and treatment.

Several Muslim-majority nations are developing large-scale, population-specific genetic databases to tackle regional health challenges — particularly inherited and chronic diseases.

While disparities in infrastructure and research capacity persist, growing investments in biomedical innovation, digital health, and scientific training are positioning OIC countries to enhance health outcomes, lower costs, and strengthen self-reliance in medical science.

“The rise of individualized medicines is going to be a massive boom for the pharmaceutical industry - imagine a future where treatments are tailored to the unique genetic and biological makeup of each of the planet’s eight billion people,” Richard Staynings, chief security strategist at US-based Cylera, tells Salaam Gateway.

To make large-scale personalization feasible and affordable, he adds, the sector will need to embrace “advanced automation, artificial intelligence, and data-driven manufacturing at unprecedented levels.”

Malaysia’s leap into genomic medicine

Malaysia is emerging as a regional leader in integrating precision medicine into its healthcare system through collaboration between academia, government, and the private sector.

In 2024, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Ministry of Health launched the MyGenom Project, to conduct large-scale genome sequencing and build a national genomic reference database that reflects the country’s ethnic diversity. 

“This genomic infrastructure will strengthen Malaysia’s capacity for precision medicine, enabling more accurate disease prediction, personalized treatment, and improved pharmacogenomics,” Fadzhairi Jabar, CEO of Malaysian biotechnology company Arcadia Life Sciences tells Salaam Gateway.

Institutions like the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Molecular Biology Institute are spearheading clinical research on how genetics interact with environmental factors to influence disease, paving the way for tailored healthcare solutions.

Private-sector partnerships are also taking shape. Prudential Malaysia, for example, is working with healthcare providers to include precision medicine in cancer treatment plans, improving accessibility and affordability.

“Growing collaboration among government, academia, and industry, and supported by initiatives like the MyGenom Project and Clinical Research Malaysia, is driving progress in genomics, pharmacogenomics, and clinical trials across the OIC country,” says Jabar.

Malaysia’s multicultural makeup - comprising Malay, Chinese, Indian, and indigenous populations - presents both opportunity and challenge.

“This diversity enables the development of a rich, representative national genomic reference that can address gaps in global datasets and improve understanding of population-specific health risks,” says Jabar.

“It also supports efforts to reduce adverse drug reactions and enhance outcomes in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, and cancer. However, ensuring equitable representation of all ethnic groups remains a key challenge.”

AI and big data are central to these efforts. Programs like MyGenom integrate genomic, clinical, and population data for predictive analytics.

“Arcadia Life Sciences contributes by developing multi-omics biomarker platforms that combine genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data with AI-driven analytics,” Jabar adds. 

“This enables discovery of disease-specific biomarkers and supports pharmacogenomics and personalized treatment.”

The company is now working with universities, hospitals, and research institutes locally and abroad to validate biomarkers and embed AI into clinical workflows - a move expected to boost Malaysia’s bioinformatics and translational research capacity.

GCC: A genomic frontier

Across the Gulf, precision medicine is rapidly evolving.

The UAE has emerged as a frontrunner, combining national programs with global partnerships involving AbbVie, AstraZeneca, and Harvard Medical School to develop diagnostics and advance personalized therapies. Its Emirati Genome Program, launched in 2019, has already sequenced more than 800,000 genomes, making it one of the world’s most comprehensive genetic datasets.

The personalised precision medicine programme for oncology has supported over 250 Emirati cancer patients through genomic screening and individualized care.

These efforts form part of Abu Dhabi’s Healthcare Life Science Vision 2030, which seeks to position the emirate as a global hub for precision medicine. The city’s Declaration on Longevity and Precision Medicine, launched in 2024, outlines a blueprint for integrating AI and genomics into mainstream healthcare.

Abu Dhabi showcased AI-powered diagnostic tools for early detection of chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer, at this year’s tech jamboree, Gitex. Integrated with the health information exchange platform, Malaffi, these innovations enhance data sharing and clinical coordination.

In January, researchers at Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences published a milestone study based on 53 individuals that strengthens the UAE’s National Genome Strategy. By March, the Emirates Genome Council was outlining plans to use genomic data to enhance public health outcomes.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Human Genome Program continues to advance the country’s personalized medicine capabilities by building a vast national genetic database. Institutions like King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre are pioneering genetic diagnostics and CAR-T cell therapies, while the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center leads gene therapy trials for rare diseases.

Saudi Arabia's embrace of AI-driven pharmacogenomics and digital health tools — including the world’s first diabetes command center launched recently — underscores its vision improve patient outcomes.

Meanwhile, Qatar has become a model for precision medicine integration. The Qatar Genome Programme has sequenced more than 30,000 citizens and 3,000 Arab residents, establishing critical datasets for regional populations. 

The newly formed Qatar Precision Health Institute is translating these findings into clinical practice, expanding pharmacogenomics implementation, and training healthcare professionals.

In 2024, Hamad Medical Corporation launched a pharmacogenomics initiative that embeds genetic testing into prescribing practices, enabling more effective drug therapy.

Smarter diagnostics and early detection

Early detection remains a cornerstone of precision medicine, aiming to identify disease long before symptoms emerge.

The UAE is pushing the frontier with AI-enhanced tools and screening programs like Detectiome, a multi-cancer test, capable of identifying tumors at their earliest stages. Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority has also approved an in vitro diagnostic test for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease - a 20-minute, non-invasive plasma biomarker assay hailed as a major step forward.

Radiology, too, is being transformed. “In radiological medicine, procedures that once relied on traditional CT scans to perform contrast tomography now use far lower doses of radiation,” says Staynings. “This produces a darker image that a radiologist can still interpret, but which can also be enhanced through AI technologies.”

The result, he explains, is sharper imaging that can detect subtle cellular changes — early indicators of tumor development invisible to the naked eye.

“That is a huge advantage, especially for fast-growing populations across the Muslim world, where the costs of managing millions of additional patients with chronic diseases could be enormous,” he adds. 

“If we can prevent those diseases from ever manifesting themselves, we can save national health systems billions of dollars.”