The World Health Organization (WHO) has affirmed AI’s potential to revolutionize global healthcare by improving accuracy and accessibility and cutting the cost of healthcare, allowing many people to access quality care globally.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, July 7, the UN agency underscored AI’s transformative role in improving disease diagnostics, treatment, and prevention while also emphasizing the need for implementing transparency and ethical guidelines to ensure safer use of AI in the healthcare sector.
Despite skepticism that surrounded the use of AI in the recent past as the potential of AI in healthcare was not yet imaginable, WHO has affirmed AI’s potential in key areas such as:
Medical Diagnostics
AI-powered Algorithms can quickly analyze huge amounts of data from many sources, including radiology images such as CT scans, X-rays, and MRIs, with pinpoint accuracy, resulting in a quick diagnosis compared to the traditional means that could take hours.
For instance, AI can detect subtle patterns of anomalies based on medical images, enabling healthcare professionals to identify diseases at their early stages. Early disease detection can go a long way toward ensuring a better treatment outcome and increased patient survivability.
In some cases, such as cancer, AI systems can suggest the best therapy pathway that can result in patient’s treatment outcomes.
Prediction of Disease Outbreak
Leveraging machine learning models, AI-powered platforms can analyze climate patterns, epidemiological data, and other critical predisposing factors to predict disease outbreaks, as well as potential hotspots.
This allows health authorities to focus on identified areas, resulting in effective resource allocation and implementation of appropriate preventive measures. Such proactive approaches can help prevent pandemics or reduce their impact on local populations.
Personalized Treatment
AI has shown remarkable potential in implementing personalized treatment plans. AI-powered algorithms play key roles in recommending personalized therapy plans based on patient-specific data such as medical history, genetic information, and lifestyle factors.
These plans aim to optimize drug usage or lifestyle changes, enabling healthcare professionals to offer the most effective and efficient care. Additionally, AI systems can help patients take medicines on time through scheduled reminders.
Patients Education
Generative AI systems can help healthcare organizations educate patients based on vast health datasets. Such platforms make it easy for patients to get responses to health-related queries promptly without booking appointments with health professionals.
WHO’s recognition of AI’s potential to transform global healthcare underscores the urgent need for collaboration between researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers to harness AI’s power responsibly to revolutionize healthcare delivery.
