At the 2026 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Winter Davos Forum), Dr. Giovanni Caforio, Chairman of the Board of Novartis AG, announced a significant collaboration: the Novartis Foundation, the Brunei Ministry of Health, and YIDU TECH's (02158) subsidiary EVYD will jointly implement a data- and AI-driven cardiovascular disease prevention and control project—CARDIO4Cities. Leveraging the Brunei National Digital Health Platform, BruHealth, which was developed with support from EVYD, the project aims to utilize data and AI tools for the early identification and precise intervention of high-risk populations. This initiative seeks to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and their acute complications, thereby enhancing the cardiovascular health management standards for Brunei's residents. This collaboration, notable for both its public health value and innovative approach, has been prominently featured on the World Economic Forum's official website.
During the Davos Forum thematic session titled "Scaling Social Impact Innovation through Collaboration and Artificial Intelligence," co-hosted by the Novartis Foundation, Novo Nordisk, and the World Heart Federation, Gong Rujing, Founder and Chairperson of YIDU TECH, engaged in a dialogue with Marnix van Ginneken, Chair of the Board of the Philips Foundation, focusing on digital health and public health system innovation. The session was moderated by Dr. Ann Aerts, Head of the Novartis Foundation. Gong Rujing emphasized that high-quality development in public health is a systematic project, whose success hinges on whether technological innovation and cross-sector collaboration can generate a continuously amplifying systemic capability. She highlighted that the CARDIO4Cities project launch in Brunei represents a strategic, national-level practice. Its goal extends beyond the implementation of a single project, aiming to drive a fundamental transformation of the public health system: shifting from passive response to active prediction, from fragmented services to systematic governance, and from experience-driven approaches to precise management based on real-world data.
Currently, cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death globally, accounting for over 70% of fatalities. In Brunei, cardiovascular disease is a primary cause of death, placing sustained pressure on the local public health system. However, most countries worldwide face common challenges when addressing such diseases, including lagging data infrastructure, fragmented information, and weak surveillance systems, which hinder the precise implementation of health interventions. Gong Rujing stressed that this collaboration will utilize the BruHealth platform, employing AI to achieve precise stratification of cardiovascular disease risk levels within the population and provide differentiated management plans for each tier, thereby moving the "gateway" of prevention forward. She pointed out that this is not only a key measure to systematically reduce the disease burden at its source but also helps governments identify risks earlier and allocate resources more accurately, thus enhancing the overall resilience of the public health system.
"A truly resilient system," Gong Rujing stated, "must take action before risks become apparent. This is the core value of data- and intelligence-driven health systems at the national level." In fact, the core AI capabilities of YIDU TECH that underpin the Brunei CARDIO4Cities project can also provide comprehensive, precise value enhancement for global pharmaceutical companies, helping to address their core development challenges. Relying on its self-developed AI technology engine and vast repository of real-world knowledge, YIDU TECH continuously assists pharmaceutical companies in optimizing new drug development processes. For instance, during clinical trials, AI is used for precise participant recruitment and intelligent quality control of trial data, significantly improving trial efficiency and controlling costs. Simultaneously, leveraging its AI-driven real-world research capabilities, it provides pharmaceutical companies with high-quality real-world evidence to accelerate the registration, market entry, and health insurance reimbursement of innovative drugs.
According to Gong Rujing, the BruHealth platform was initially built to support infectious disease tracking and the scientific allocation of medical resources during the pandemic. It has since evolved into a comprehensive digital infrastructure integrating government supervision, doctor workstations, and personal health services. Residents can use the platform to access their health records and smart health indices, obtain AI-generated personalized health plans, and complete medical appointments. Currently, the platform covers over 85% of Brunei's population, is deeply integrated into the daily health management of its citizens, and serves as the core digital backbone of the country's national health system. In this collaboration, EVYD, as the co-developer of the BruHealth platform, will undertake the core tasks of data integration, analysis, and technical support for the project.
As the first country globally to expand the CARDIO4Cities project to cover four major cardiovascular risk factors—hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidemia—Brunei's implementation of this partnership is drawing significant attention. It is reported that the CARDIO4Cities project, initiated by the Novartis Foundation, has already been implemented in over 40 cities worldwide, including São Paulo, Dakar, and Ulaanbaatar, achieving a 3 to 6-fold improvement in blood pressure control rates within 15 to 21 months, and reducing stroke incidence by up to 13% and heart attack rates by up to 12%. This tripartite strategic collaboration not only provides a novel solution for cardiovascular disease prevention and control in Brunei but also offers a replicable model for global non-communicable disease prevention and control. As the project progresses, it is expected to further enhance Brunei's public health service levels, tangibly reduce the health and social burdens caused by cardiovascular diseases, and inject new momentum into the global transformation of public health.
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