WHO - SEARO and KCDH - Ashoka University Launch a Year-Long Webinar Series on Responsible AI in Healthcare
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Giving visibility to innovative initiatives from our members and fostering global knowledge exchange are at the core of the WHS Academic Alliance. We are therefore pleased to share the launch of a year-long webinar series on "Responsible AI in Healthcare". The webinars are open to all to attend, encouraging broad participation and exchange. Additionally, institutions across the region are invited to contribute expert speakers and use-cases to further enrich the dialogue and drive sustainable, real-world impact.
Artificial intelligence is changing every level of healthcare but without adequate safeguards, the risk exists that its effects may deepen inequities. In response, WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, and Koita Centre for Digital Health at Ashoka University, has launched a year-long webinar series on "Responsible AI in Healthcare", on 6th August 2025 and will run until July 2026. The project aims to facilitate the equitable, safe, and sustainable introduction of Artificial Intelligence into health systems in WHO South-East Asia Region and similar environments.
Every monthly session will include a panel of experts, policymakers, and health practitioners from across the world, while highlighting a country in the South-East Asia region, with the opportunity to specifically discuss the responsible and equitable adoption of Artificial Intelligence to health systems. The webinar will discuss real issues, including ethical AI development, data ownership and governance, AI in telemedicine, and model safety, among many other issues.
Participants will benefit from pragmatic learnings throughout the series on how they can adopt AI to improve the delivery of health services with ongoing focus on equity, dignity, and better health for all. Subject matter focus will include frontier areas in Federated Learning, Privacy-Preserving Methods, Large Language Models in Healthcare and AI for Last-Mile Healthcare Delivery.
These discussions will assist countries in utilizing AI technologies, consistent with WHO’s Global Strategy on Digital Health, to help countries pursue universal health coverage efforts. In addition to the webinars, the series will provide regional policy briefs, open-access resources and case studies that focus on responsible AI use in healthcare in each region. Practical case studies and guidance materials (in the form of publications and white papers), will be developed in consultation with stakeholders, that will help build regional capacity to rapidly adopt trusted, people-centred AI systems into healthcare provision. A standalone document capturing key take-home points from each session will also be made publicly available.
This collaboration is a huge step forward in realizing the potential of AI in health systems in a way that is values-based and human rights centric, which is a shared vision to promote digital health innovation and tackle global health issues through interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange.
Visit the webinar website here.