A new survey has found that one in four men have not had a general health check up in the last 12 months, and one in 10 has never had one.
The survey by YouGov on behalf of Smart Salem, the UAE’s premium medical fitness visa and wellness clinic, sought to understand men’s attitudes and behaviours to preventative health during Men’s Health Awareness Month (November).
The main reasons cited by men for not getting general health checks were cost (46%), feeling healthy (38%) and lack of time (35%). One in five men also said fear of what the results may find prevented them from getting tested.
Smart Salem CEO Amanda Gravitis said: “We talk about women’s health alot, but men’s health is just as important and doesn’t always get the same attention. We want to change this because we know that early detection saves lives and sometimes all it takes is a blood test which we can do in minutes.”
Smart Salem has recently launched a dedicated comprehensive health screening test tailored specifically for men. The Premium PLUS Male Health screening tests 72 markers to detect a range of conditions from prostate cancer to infertility and autoimmune thyroid disease.
Amanda continued, “Feeling healthy doesn’t always mean you are healthy – people need to understand that underlying issues can still be present. We regularly see customers come in with no symptoms only to discover a hidden health issue they weren’t aware of and would never have known about if they hadn’t gotten tested. Smart Salem offers a seamless, express service with valet and smart queueing so you can be in and out in minutes and back to your day as quickly as possible. Everyone can find ten minutes once a year to protect their health.”
Data for the survey was collected online using YouGov’s online proprietary panel in October 2025. Results are based on a sample of 1,067 respondents from a representative sample in UAE.
