WHO SEARO, ISB Join Forces to Build Responsible AI Roadmap for Health Systems Across South-East Asia
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Beyond research, the collaboration seeks to establish a long-term partnership ecosystem by engaging state governments, technology developers, and implementing organizations throughout the year.
The World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) has partnered with the Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) to accelerate responsible AI adoption for health across the region.
The Max Institute of Healthcare Management at the Indian School of Business is an interdisciplinary centre that focuses on strengthening health systems through research, leadership development, and policy engagement.
Its work spans healthcare delivery, public-private partnerships, and evidence generation to support informed health policy and improved outcomes.
The new collaboration builds on WHO SEARO's ongoing efforts to strengthen digital health governance across Member States and is expected to provide countries with practical tools, stronger evidence, and institutional capabilities needed to scale responsible AI adoption for health across the region.
The two-year collaboration has brought together research, policy support, implementation science, and capacity building to help countries move artificial intelligence from pilot projects to practical, sustainable use in healthcare systems.
The agreement will run for an initial two-year period from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028.
The collaboration is designed to address three major barriers limiting AI implementation in health systems: the lack of practical guidance for government decision-makers, limited capacity to implement and evaluate AI technologies, and fragmented collaboration between governments, innovators, researchers, and healthcare institutions.
As part of the initiative, the partners will develop a structured decision-making framework that will help policymakers evaluate whether AI solutions are operationally suitable for different clinical settings in low- and middle-income countries.
The framework will be validated using both previously deployed AI solutions and technologies being considered for future implementation.
It will also align with WHO's ongoing normative work, including outputs from the WHO working group on the Clinical Evaluation of AI for Health, before being released as a global public good.
The agreement also focuses on generating real-world evidence through implementation studies that examine operational feasibility, health system integration, clinical decision-making, and user behaviour.
These studies will include both short-term pilot projects and longer-term evaluations designed to measure sustained improvements in clinical and health system outcomes.
The scientific findings will be made publicly available and submitted for peer review in collaboration with WHO SEARO.
Beyond research, the collaboration seeks to establish a long-term partnership ecosystem by engaging state governments, technology developers, and implementing organizations throughout the year.
Moreover, through workshops and training programmes, government officials, along with relevant academic and civil society stakeholders where appropriate, will receive guidance on AI governance, planning, budgeting, and responsible implementation.
The initiative also aims to help state governments identify areas where artificial intelligence can deliver the greatest value within existing health programmes.
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