Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava has said that India’s digital foundation, built through Aadhaar and strengthened by the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and ABHA IDs, has enabled the country to build a scalable and interoperable digital health ecosystem. Speaking at a fireside chat on ‘Grounding the Frontier: A Global South AI Framework’ in New York, she highlighted India’s experience in using AI and digital health innovations for the Global South.

 

She said AI models must learn from contextual and representative data to deliver solutions that are relevant to the populations they serve. She also highlighted the use of AI in clinical decision support, longitudinal health records and identifying disease hotspots. Ms Srivastava highlighted the Strategy for AI in Healthcare (SAHI) as a framework for responsible and effective adoption of AI in health, underlining India’s experience in taking technology-enabled solutions to scale. The discussion also explored how AI can help advance healthcare and development outcomes across the Global South and contribute to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.