EVYD, Brunei’s Ministry of Health, and Novartis Foundation Launch National AI-Driven Heart Disease Prevention Initiative

27 January 2026

DAVOS, Switzerland: At the 2026 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Dr. Giovanni Caforio, Chairman of Novartis, announced a groundbreaking partnership. The Novartis Foundation, the Ministry of Health of Brunei Darussalam, and EVYD Technology will collaboratively implement an AI-powered national programme aimed at preventing cardiovascular disease, under the global initiative known as CARDIO4Cities.

Built upon Brunei’s existing health platform, this programme seeks to utilise population-wide data and artificial intelligence to identify high-risk individuals early and deliver targeted interventions. The overarching goal is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease and improve the nation’s heart health outcomes.

This innovative collaboration, recognised for its public health impact and technological advancement, has been highlighted by the World Economic Forum as a significant development.

The initiative was showcased during the Davos session titled “Innovating for Social Impact at Scale Through Partnerships and Artificial Intelligence,” co-hosted by the Novartis Foundation, Novo Nordisk, and the World Heart Federation.

Gong Yingying, Founder and Chairwoman of Yidu Tech, participated in a dialogue with Marnix van Ginneken, Chairman of the Philips Foundation, on the future of digital health and resilient public health systems. Moderated by Dr. Ann Aerts, Head of the Novartis Foundation, the discussion emphasised that advancing high-quality public health relies on systemic efforts—specifically, translating technological innovation and cross-sector collaboration into scalable, self-sustaining capabilities.

Gong stressed that the deployment of CARDIO4Cities in Brunei marks a strategically vital national initiative. Its broader ambition is to transform the public health system from reactive responses to proactive, predictive approaches. This includes moving from fragmented services towards integrated governance, and from experience-based methods to precision management driven by real-world data.

Non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular conditions, remain the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for over 70% of global fatalities. In Brunei, cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of mortality, placing continuous pressure on the healthcare system. Many countries face common structural challenges—including fragmented data infrastructure, limited monitoring capabilities, and insufficient population-level risk stratification—which hinder precise prevention efforts at scale.

Through this partnership, Brunei aims to leverage AI to develop cardiovascular risk stratification across its population, enabling differentiated intervention pathways. This proactive approach marks a shift from traditional prevention methods to upstream risk reduction. Gong noted, “A truly resilient system must act before risks fully materialise. This is the core value of data- and intelligence-driven health governance.”

The AI capabilities underpinning Brunei’s CARDIO4Cities initiative are based on EVYD’s comprehensive technological infrastructure. Designed to deliver population-scale insights, it also supports global pharmaceutical and life sciences industries throughout the research and development cycle. Powered by EVYD’s proprietary AI engine and extensive real-world evidence infrastructure, the platform facilitates precise patient identification and recruitment, intelligent clinical trial data quality monitoring, accelerated trial execution with cost efficiencies, and the generation of high-quality real-world evidence for regulatory and payer decisions.

Gong highlighted the evolution of BruHealth, Brunei’s national digital health platform. Initially established during the COVID-19 pandemic for infectious disease tracking and resource coordination, BruHealth has expanded into a comprehensive national infrastructure that integrates government policy, clinical workstations for physicians, and citizen-facing digital health services. Today, residents can access their health records, receive personalised AI-driven health advice, schedule appointments, and monitor wellness indicators—all within a single platform. Covering over 85% of the population, BruHealth now serves as the backbone of Brunei’s universal health system. EVYD will support the platform’s data integration, analytics, and implementation to operationalise CARDIO4Cities nationwide.

Brunei is the first country to implement CARDIO4Cities at a national level, targeting four major cardiovascular risk factors: hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidaemia. Since its inception, the programme has been deployed across more than 40 cities worldwide, including São Paulo, Dakar, and Ulaanbaatar. Results have demonstrated that within 15–21 months, blood pressure control rates can improve three to six times, stroke incidence can decrease by up to 13%, and heart attack rates by as much as 12%.

This trilateral partnership offers a next-generation approach to combating cardiovascular disease, providing a scalable model for non-communicable disease prevention globally. As the initiative progresses, it is expected to bolster Brunei’s public health capacity, reduce long-term disease burden, and inspire a worldwide shift towards intelligent, prevention-focused healthcare systems.