Commentaries | Oct 28,2023
Mar 23 , 2024
By Mohammed Yassin
Groundbreaking AI technologies are reshaping the fight against Tuberculosis (TB), a disease that still claims over 3,000 lives daily despite being preventable and curable. From Bangladesh's digital X-rays and AI-driven telemedicine to Pakistan's mobile health camps powered by AI hot spot detection, the integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare offers new hope. writes Mohammed Yassin, a public health physician and infectious disease epidemiologist with over 25 years of experience treating and researching tuberculosis, is a senior TB adviser at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria. This article is provided by Project Syndicate (PS).
Groundbreaking new technologies seem to be emerging with increasing frequency. Since its launch in November 2022, OpenAI's generative artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, has become a global sensation, attracting over 100 million users and inspiring numerous imitators. The technology's fast-evolving capabilities have also commanded the attention of world leaders, dominating discussions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) and the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
It is not difficult to understand why. By harnessing AI tools developed by private companies like OpenAI, governments and civil society organisations could make significant strides toward tackling global challenges like climate change and economic inequality. They could also revolutionise how we fight infectious diseases, ensuring that life-saving care reaches those most need it. AI tools could play a major role in the global effort to end Tuberculosis (TB).
A preventable and curable disease, TB claims an average of more than 3,000 lives a day. Although the mechanisms of TB transmission are well understood, and highly effective treatment regimens – including new and improved medications – are available worldwide, TB still led to 1.3 million deaths globally in 2022.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria is pursuing public-private partnerships to develop and deploy innovative digital public health tools. During a recent trip to Bangladesh, I encountered a team of healthcare providers from the public and private sectors, along with local community partners, using digital X-rays, AI, and telemedicine to facilitate rapid TB screening. Patients whose X-ray results show signs of TB could immediately submit sputum samples for analysis and receive treatment at the community level, free of charge.
Similar initiatives are being launched around the world.
In Pakistan's Punjab province, the humanitarian aid organisation Mercy Corps uses AI tools to identify "hot spots" – remote or rural areas where TB cases might go undetected – and set up mobile health camps to deliver diagnostic and treatment services directly to residents. In Paraguay's Padre de la Vega prison, healthcare workers use Fujifilm ultralight portable X-ray machines and AI technology to provide rapid and precise TB screening.
Physicians at Cambodia's National Center for Tuberculosis & Leprosy Control in Phnom Penh bring portable Delft X-ray machines to nearby provinces to screen individuals unable to travel to the capital. In Indonesia, a new partnership between the Global Fund, Siemens Healthineers, and the country's national TB program aims to scale early detection efforts by combining deep-learning AI technology and X-ray analysis to enable radiologists to read scans remotely.
Targeted, innovative projects such as these are crucial to overcoming persistent inequities that fuel the spread of infectious diseases: poverty, conflict- and weather-related displacement, overcrowding, and limited access to health facilities. They are laying the groundwork for resilient health systems that meet every person's needs. In addition to TB screenings, Pakistan's mobile health camps offer essential services focusing on women and young children.
These examples underline the importance of advancing collaboration among companies, industry leaders, governments, and local health providers to devise innovative ways to address solvable problems like TB. That is why the Global Fund, contributing 76pc of all international financing to end TB, also allocates more than 150 million dollars annually to develop digital tools promoting equity and helping remote communities access critical healthcare services.
Much more is needed, however. Devising targeted, effective, and sustainable solutions requires active engagement with local communities to respond to a wide range of other public health threats, such as pandemics and antimicrobial resistance. It is crucial to have committed partners who can envision and develop cutting-edge digital tools. By leveraging AI to augment local medical expertise, we have an opportunity to overcome TB.
In a world brimming with innovative ideas and emerging technologies that until recently were beyond our imagination, ending this global scourge, and perhaps others, is finally within reach.
PUBLISHED ON
Mar 23,2024 [ VOL
24 , NO
1247]
Commentaries | Oct 28,2023
Viewpoints | Dec 30,2023
Viewpoints | Oct 28,2023
Viewpoints | Sep 26,2021
Viewpoints | Dec 09,2023
Commentaries | Aug 19,2023
Radar | Oct 15,2022
Commentaries | Dec 16,2023
Commentaries | Sep 10,2023
Viewpoints | Jun 04,2022
Photo Gallery | 97970 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 90190 Views | Apr 26,2019
My Opinion | 67586 Views | Aug 14,2021
Commentaries | 65898 Views | Oct 02,2021
Editorial | May 02,2024
Feb 24 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Abel Yeshitila, a real estate developer with a 12-year track record, finds himself unable to sell homes in his latest venture. Despite slash...
Feb 10 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
In his last week's address to Parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) painted a picture of an economy...
Jan 7 , 2024
In the realm of international finance and diplomacy, few cities hold the distinction that Addis Abeba doe...
Sep 30 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
On a chilly morning outside Ke'Geberew Market, Yeshi Chane, a 35-year-old mother cradling her seven-month-old baby, stands amidst the throng...
May 2 , 2024
For successive generations of Ethiopia's tax authorities, the chore of tax collection...
Apr 27 , 2024
The Prosperity Party (PP) - Prosperitians - is charting a course through treacherous...
Apr 20 , 2024
In a departure from its traditionally opaque practices, the National Bank of Ethiopia...
Apr 13 , 2024
In the hushed corridors of the legislative house on Lorenzo Te'azaz Road (Arat Kilo)...
May 3 , 2024
The feel-good life coaching industry would have people believe that success is not only about showing up in the swirling whirl of modern lif...
May 4 , 2024 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Brook Taye (PhD), the director general of the newly established Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA), has issued a stern warning to com...
May 4 , 2024 . By MUNIR SHEMSU
Dreams of an agriculture sector unshackled from the whims of rain remain tethered to the struggling Minis...
May 4 , 2024
Large public projects exceeding 250 million Br will be required to use Building Information Modelling (BI...