A serious disparity exists between the growing ageing population and the number of health care providers being trained to meet the unique health care needs of older adults. This problem is both in developed and developing world. The key to alleviating the shortage, according to researchers, is for medical schools to lead the change in giving geriatric medicine the attention it deserves, cultivating programs where there are none, improving existing ones. There is a major deficiency in the number of physicians trained in geriatrics, in addition to limited paramedical personal trained in the field.

The Middle East Academy for Medicine of Ageing was founded in 2002 to stimulate the development of health care services for older people in the region. It was established by a number of professors and teachers from the Middle East and Europe. The Model of MEAMA was taken from the European Academy for Medicine of Ageing (EAMA). The mission of MEAMA is to create a hub for education and training in the field of ageing in the Middle East.

Abyad Medical Center and Middle East Longevity Institute were instrumental in organizing the first course of the MEAMA. Over the previous years, several reputable official governmental, regional and international organisations helped in the development of the academy including The Health Ministers' Council for the Cooperation Council States, Ministry of Health in Bahrain, The European Academy for Medicine of Ageing, The European Union of Geriatric Medicine Society, the Geriatric Medicine Section of the European Union of Medical Specialists, the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, medi+WORLD International, Multimedia Medical University, Al Jinan University, Azm & Saade Association, Hamad Medical Coporation, National Guard National Guard Health Affairs -King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and others.

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