Module 1: Applications of

Artificial Intelligence for

Health

Unit 1: AI in Health Care

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Outline the use of AI in health care

 AI in Health Care
The use of AI in medicine raises notions of AI
replacing clinicians and human decision-making.

AI is increasingly improving diagnosis and

clinical care

WHO / Blink Media - Gilliane Soupe

Diagnosis and Prediction-Based Diagnosis
 AI and Diagnosis
• AI can support diagnosis in several ways
o Radiology
o Medical imaging
• These applications are relatively novel
• AI is not yet routinely used in clinical decision-
making

WHO / NOOR - Sebastian Liste

Diagnosis Applications
AI is currently being evaluated for use in:

• Radiological diagnosis in oncology

• Non-radiological applications
• Diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy
• Ophthalmology
• RNA and DNA sequencing

WHO / NOOR - Sebastian Liste

AI and Diagnosis in LMIC
AI may be used to:

• Improve detection of tuberculosis in a

support system for interpreting staining
images
• Scan X-rays for signs of tuberculosis,
COVID-19 or other conditions

Few of these systems have been evaluated

in prospective clinical trials.

WHO / Sergey Volkov

 Faster, More Accurate Diagnoses
AI could allow medical providers to make
faster, more accurate diagnoses.
For example, for the prompt detection of
conditions such as:
• Stroke, pneumonia and breast cancer by
imaging
• Coronary heart disease by
echocardiography
• Cervical cancer

WHO / Blink Media - Etinosa Yvonne

 Support for Health Care Shortages
AI could be used to support low-income settings
by:
• Providing assistance in diagnosis and
assessment
• Reducing workload on health care workers

WHO/Christopher Black
Predicting Illness
AI has the potential to predict illness or
major health events before they occur.

AI systems can support prevention

research through analysing data to identify
patterns, which can enable the prediction
of probable trends.

• Lifestyle diseases
• Tuberculosis in LMIC
• Birth asphyxia in LMIC

WHO / Blink Media - Lisette Poole

AI in Health
Questions about the role of AI in health include
whether:

• The performance of AI can be generalized to

implementation in practice
• AI trained for use in one context can be used
accurately and safely in a different geographical
region or context

WHO / Blink Media

- Amanda Mustard
AI in Clinical Care
 AI in Clinical Care
Clinicians could use AI to:

• Identify patients at risk and vulnerable group

• Aid difficult treatment decisions
• Catch clinical errors

WHO / NOOR - Sebastian Liste

AI in Clinical Care in LMIC
In low- and-middle-income countries, AI could be
used in the management of antiretroviral therapy by
predicting resistance to HIV drugs.

This could help physicians optimize diagnosis,

prognosis and treatment.
AI in Clinical Care
Clinical experience and knowledge about
patients is essential.

AI will not be a substitute for clinical due

diligence for the foreseeable future.

If it did, clinicians might engage in

“automation bias”.

WHO / NOOR - Sebastian Liste

Challenges to AI in Clinical Care
Challenges to AI in Clinical Care
The wider use of AI in medicine also has
technological challenges.

Many prototypes have been developed and

performed well in field tests, but they often cannot
be translated, commercialized or deployed.

WHO / Sean Hawkey

 Challenges to AI in Clinical Care
AI task automation could give doctors
more time to:

• Listen to patients
• Address their fears and concerns
• Ask about unrelated social factors

However, it could also lead to an

economically-driven approach to health
care, resulting in patient inequities.

WHO / NOOR - Sebastian Liste

AI and Health Care Workers
As the use of AI increases, health care workers will
also have to adapt their clinical practice.

Doctors will have to update their competence to:

• Understand how AI functions

• Communicate risks
• Make predictions and discuss trade-offs with
patients
• Express their ethical and legal concerns about
AI technology
 AI in Clinical Care
Additional obstacles for health administration are
the:

• Ongoing changes in information technology

management
• Challenge of training staff to use new
technologies
• Lack of digital infrastructure

WHO / TDR - Andy Craggs

 You have now completed Unit
1 of Applications of AI for
Health.

Next unit: Emerging Trends in

the Use of AI for Health.

WHO/Yoshi Shimizu