WHO and I-DAIR to partner for inclusive, impactful, and responsible international research in AI and digital health
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining their joint efforts to advance the use of digital technologies for personal and public health globally.
From left to right: Dr. Soumya Swaminathan (WHO Chief Scientist), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General),
Dr. Marie-Laure Salles (Graduate Institute Geneva Director), Dr. Amandeep Gill (I-DAIR CEO). Credit WHO / Christopher Black.
Through this agreement, WHO and I-DAIR will work together to harness the digital revolution towards urgent health challenges, while emphasizing equity and greater participation from Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) in the research and development and governance of the digital health and AI space, with particular focus on the inclusion of young researchers and entrepreneurs.
The partnership will focus on achieving these common goals through a multi-faceted approach focusing on promoting scientific cross-domain/cross-border collaboration and implementing innovative digital health long-term solutions, consistent with WHO recommendations and interoperability standards.
The joint activities include inter alia the promotion and the development of new norms and guidelines for the governance of health data as a public good, the building of evidence cases for thoughtful investments in digital health globally, and the strengthening of stakeholders’ capacities - for instance via the common elaboration of the WHO digital health competency framework.
The MoU was signed by WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr. Amandeep Gill, I-DAIR’s CEO and Project Director, as well as by Dr. Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Graduate Institute Geneva, I-DAIR’s host institution since its incubation in 2019.
“We are honored and privileged to formalize our partnership with WHO, and wanted to highlight their thoughtful work in the field of digital technologies, notably the Global strategy on digital health. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with the overriding priority to accelerate the enabling of R&D in the Global South and Small States of all incomes to further the creation of knowledge in digital health and AI, and mend the digital divide.”
