The Algorithm and the Village: Bridging the Global Health AI Divide with Local Wisdom

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Published Aug 29, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i8.6853

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Main Article Content

Sajda Qureshi, Ph.D
Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Faculty of College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, D.B. and Paula Varner Professor of Information Systems, Director ITD Cloud Computing Lab, Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis, College of Information Science & Technology. University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0116
Ali Khan, MD, MPH, MBA
Richard Holland Presidential Chair, Dean, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service (retired), 42nd and Emile, Omaha, Nebraska 68198

Abstract

Local use of artificial intelligence offers opportunities for improved global health outcomes. Global health ecosystems comprising mobile applications include generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities that support public health in low and middle-income communities around the world. However, challenges remain in the datasets, training and use of the Large Language Models used to support public health interventions. Following a review of the use of artificial intelligence in global health, this paper addresses some of the most difficult challenges of implementing generative artificial intelligence in global health, that of algorithmic bias, and offers a model of collective governance that involves local participation in the creation of the data sets and training to ensure algorithmic accountability. This conceptualization of global health involves access to resource networks through which health diagnosis, interventions and treatments may be carried out at any place at any time.  It offers a policy framework to ensure that AI serves as a catalyst for equitable and sustainable development in public health and healthcare to address the existing disparities which in a principled framework for its design, governance, and implementation is essential for global public health. This framework emphasizes local ownership, human-centricity, and a proactive approach to ethical considerations, moving beyond a model where AI is genuinely designed, governed, and implemented by the low- and middle-income communities globally, with a specific focus on health outcomes. The contribution of this policy paper is in a novel approach to public health that involves the co-creation and collective responsibility for governance in global health systems.

Keywords: Global health, Artificial intelligence, Algorithmic bias, Local governance, Public health equity, Generative AI, Low- and middle-income communities

Article Details

How to Cite
QURESHI, Sajda; KHAN, Ali. The Algorithm and the Village: Bridging the Global Health AI Divide with Local Wisdom. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 13, n. 8, aug. 2025. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/6853>. Date accessed: 06 dec. 2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i8.6853.
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Vol 13 No 8 (2025): Vol.13, Issue 8, August 2025
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