A KNUTSFORD health company has won a contract that will see it expand to Abu Dhabi.

Crawford Healthcare, the UK’s fastest-growing advanced wound care company, will see its dressings recommended as products of choice by Abu Dhabi’s public health body, after winning a government tender.

The agreement with SEHA – Abu Dhabi Health Services Company’s trading name – will give King Edward Road-based Crawford access to 12 public hospitals and more than five million patients a year.

Chris Lane, Crawford Healthcare’s director of strategy, said: “Increasing levels of diabetes and an ageing population are both global concerns, and key issues that are informing our international growth story.

“Our technology-led dressings, developed by our in-house team, are making a real impact on group sales in our existing markets, and we’ve every confidence we can replicate those results in the Middle East.”

Figures published by The World Bank in 2015 highlight the Middle East as an area of high diabetes prevalence, with almost one in five people aged 29-79 living with the disease in the UAE.

That figure is almost nine per cent higher than in the United States, where the risk of amputations related to infected diabetic foot ulcers is also extremely high.

Alongside the SEHA contract listing, Crawford has also announced plans to build its sales presence in Saudi Arabia having agreed a partnership with a new distributor.

SEHA’s senior charge nurse, Gulnaz Tariq Mir, said: “Chronic wounds are clearly a major issue in the Middle East, and a treatment category we expect will continue to grow in the coming years.

“The advanced R&D behind Crawford’s dressings, as well as their proven success across a number of international markets with similar demographics, made them an ideal choice as we continue to pursue improvements in patient outcomes.”

Crawford was recognised in 2016 with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade for its success exporting to the Americas and Europe, and recently signed a similar agreement in the US with leading group purchasing organisation, Premier Inc.