The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) have formed an alliance for inclusive, impactful and responsible research in Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
WHO and I-DAIR signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to organize joint efforts to promote and develop the use of digital technologies for personal and public health throughout the world.
I-DAIR is a platform with various stakeholders who join forces in the collaboration of global research on Digital Health. Its main tasks are to develop global public goods that solve problems related to the deployment of AI and data for health in an inclusive, equitable and responsible way.
The MoU seeks to address urgent health challenges, specifically in low- and middle-income countries and thus encourage their participation in research, development and governance of Digital Health and AI.
“The association will focus on achieving these common goals through a multifaceted approach focused on promoting scientific collaboration across domains and borders and implementing innovative long-term digital health solutions, in accordance with WHO recommendations and interoperability standards. ”, explains the WHO in its press release.
The activities to be carried out by both the WHO and its regional offices, and the I-DAIR, involve tasks such as the promotion and development of new standards and guidelines for health data governance, with a model that perceives these data as a public good. In the same way, they will seek to create evidence to generate investments in Digital Health at a global level and strengthen the digital capacities of the interested parties.
The MoU was signed by the Director General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr. Amandeep Gill, Executive Director and Director of the I-DAIR Project, and Dr. Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Institute of Geneva graduates.
“We are honored and privileged to formalize our partnership with the WHO, and wanted to highlight their thoughtful work in the field of digital technologies, in particular the global strategy on digital health. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with the overarching priority of accelerating R&D enablement in the Global South and Small States of all incomes to further knowledge creation in digital health and AI, and bridge the digital divide." Dr Gill.
