The European arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a Technical Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (TAG-AI), designed to guide the safe and ethical use of emerging technologies in healthcare.
The newly minted team will advise the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) for a two-year term under the European Programme of Work 2026-2030. In addition to providing expert advice to the WHO, the advisory group will support the development of capacity-building and policy recommendations for natural language processing and machine learning.
According to a statement, the team will offer direction on implementing and monitoring AI solutions in European healthcare systems. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, noted that the team will focus on transparency, accountability, and safety guardrails for AI healthcare solutions.
Furthermore, the report disclosed that the team will shape governance models to promote the benefits of AI in health, with a keen focus on underrepresented communities. To achieve their objectives, the team will collaborate with existing units in WHO/Europe to raise awareness of AI’s upsides.
The team, comprising ten experts, was drawn from a competitive pool of 330 applicants. Kluge noted that the selection represented gender diversity and expertise. The group is scheduled to meet once each year, and its operations will be guided by the digital health action plan for the WHO European Region 2023-2030.
“The selection for this group was competitive. From a pool of 330 applicants, we picked 10, based on expertise, geographical balance, and gender diversity,” said Kluge.
A glance at the team reveals a distinguished panel of experts in responsible AI practice, with two members in the United States and the rest in Europe. Others include an advisor to the Minister of Health in France, a professor of data science, and experts in public health and pediatrics.
AI in healthcare surges
Previously, the WHO has launched an AI chatbot to provide global assistance for public health, featuring support for eight global languages and “enhanced empathetic response. However, the organization warns that apart from AI’s capacity to improve global health, there remains an element of risk in the absence of strong regulatory direction.
Several technology firms have signaled an intention to launch a raft of AI-powered solutions for healthcare in the coming months. Already, Meta (NASDAQ: META) has found initial success with experiments designed to decode images from brain activity to help disabled individuals, while AI-based cancer detection tools are recording rising adoption levels.
In India, the government increased its bets on AI, aiming to transform its healthcare sector through use cases in diagnostics, management, and outpatient care. And as more countries follow suit, the global generative AI health market is tipped to reach a valuation of $29 billion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.84%.
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Healthcare gets digital boost
Elsewhere, Guinea-Bissau has taken a significant leap toward digitization by introducing a national pharmaceutical traceability system to track medicines in the country.
The government is collaborating with Italy-based Antares Vision Group (AVG) to provide technical direction for the new regulatory system. Upon full rollout in 2026, authorities say the pharmaceutical traceability system will support the tracking and authentication of every medicine throughout the local supply chain.
The system leans on a newly minted National Catalogue of Medicines, a centralized platform containing all health product data in the African nation. Under the agreement, the Antares Vision Group will supplement the operations of the National Catalogue of Medicines through its AVGroupHub, offering a digital interface for stakeholders in the supply chain.
Starting in 2026, medicine manufacturers, importers, distributors, and pharmacies must register all products under their care to ensure accountability and traceability across the supply chain. Antares Vision Group CEO Gianluca Mazzantini disclosed that the system will ease compliance requirements for stakeholders under existing regulations in the country.
“With the National Drug Catalogue at the center of ARFAME’s oversight role, Guinea-Bissau is creating a model that ensures compliance, protects patients, and provides sustainable access to medicines,” said Mazzantini.
Experts noted that the system offers Guinea-Bissau the best chance against illegal medicine distribution channels and the scourge of counterfeit pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, transparency across the supply chain will address the challenges of drug shortages while preventing theft and ensuring that operations meet global standards.
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Leveraging emerging technologies
The global pharmaceutical industry is at the forefront of embracing emerging technologies, with several studies highlighting the impact of blockchain as the “only tamper-proof technology” for the sector. Meanwhile, AI is deepening its footprints in the sector, accentuated by early successes in identifying and producing active pharmaceutical ingredients using AI models.
Furthermore, the third iteration of Google DeepMind has earned plaudits for assisting scientists with drug synthesis and disease prediction. As Big Pharma turns to AI, the WHO urged regulators to introduce guardrails to ensure safety and accountability.
In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.
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Watch: Supply chain traceability powered by blockchain tech
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Source: https://coingeek.com/who-guinea-bissau-push-ai-drug-tracking-in-healthcare/
