Innovating for Health Equity: How AI Can Strengthen Frontline Systems

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare, but not equally and not everywhere. In 2016, 28 million wearable health devices were in use. By 2022, that number jumped to over 230 million. The healthAI revolution is accelerating, but often in ways that leave the most impacted communities and systems behind.

Health equity is not only a moral imperative - it is a pre-requisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and must be a design principle in health innovation. Today, AI tools are often deployed in fragmented, underfunded systems, without the infrastructure or frontline capacity to absorb them. When innovation is not grounded in local realities, it risks deepening existing divides.

Yet when done right, AI can strengthen health systems and expand access. In Nigeria, AI-assisted Tuberculosis triage reduced diagnostic backlogs by 35% in just six months. because it was integrated with national health data systems (AI4D Africa, 2023). In Rwanda, co-designed tools for Community Health Workers (CHWs) led to 60% lower abandonment rates than top-down mHealth apps (UNICEF Innovation Fund, 2023). By contrast, in South Asia, 40% of maternal health apps were discontinued within 18 months, largely due to poor user engagement and lack of contextual relevance (IDRC, 2022).

It's clear that there is a business case for effective community engagement. AI can support health equity when systems are ready, communities are involved, and infrastructure is built to sustain innovation. This session will bring together global health innovators, policymakers, technologists, funders, and frontline leaders to explore how to deploy AI in ways that strengthen public health systems and advance equity.