WHA Side-Event (Vital Strategies)
Partners and Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good evening.
The global conversation on AI in health has moved remarkably fast.
A few years ago, we were asking whether we should use AI.
Then the question became which tools to use.
Now we are discussing how to deploy AI safely at scale.
But before all of that, a more fundamental question remains:
Is the system ready?
Not the software or the algorithm — but the health system itself: the data infrastructure, the governance architecture, the workforce, and the institutions that must ultimately make these tools work for real populations.
That is what brings us here today.
And that is what PILLARs is fundamentally about.
AI does not create health system capability. It amplifies what already exists.
Fragmented data produces fragmented outputs.
Weak governance produces inequitable systems and unaccountable outcomes.
And an unprepared workforce will struggle to question a tool that is confidently wrong.
AI readiness is therefore not a switch we can simply turn on.
It rests on five interdependent foundations:
- interoperable and longitudinal data systems;
- governance frameworks that define accountability and data rights;
- institutional capacity to critically evaluate and adapt technologies;
- a health workforce able not only to use AI, but also to challenge it;
- and health systems capable of integrating these tools without disrupting essential services already in place.
In other words, AI readiness is not primarily a technology project.
It is health system strengthening — the latest iteration of work that WHO and Member States have been advancing together for decades.
In South-East Asia, the countries making the most durable progress are not necessarily those with the most sophisticated AI applications.
Rather, they are the countries that invested patiently in the foundations.
A common thread is investment in Digital Public Infrastructure for Health: foundational systems such as registries, interoperability layers, standards, and consent frameworks that allow AI applications to operate on shared architecture instead of isolated platforms.
India’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is one important example.
It has created a federated digital architecture with interoperable registries and citizen-centric consent mechanisms that enable a broader innovation ecosystem to emerge.
India has also become the first country in the Global South to articulate a dedicated national strategy for AI in health — an important milestone for our region.
Thailand offers a different, but equally instructive, model.
Rather than creating entirely new structures, Thailand has embedded digital health regulation and AI oversight into existing health technology assessment mechanisms.
For many countries facing fiscal constraints, this is an important lesson:
effective governance can often be built through trusted institutions that already exist.
As WHO, our role is to support countries with guidance, standards, evidence, and regulatory frameworks.
We help align investments with public health priorities and health system goals.
But peer-to-peer exchange — countries with similar realities learning directly from one another’s implementation journeys — is something different, and highly complementary.
That is where initiatives such as PILLARs can add tremendous value.
Ultimately, the long-term impact of AI in health will depend not on the speed of adoption, but on the strength of the systems beneath it.
On behalf of WHO South-East Asia, we look forward:
- to contributing the perspectives and experiences of our Member States;
- to helping anchor this work in strong normative frameworks;
- and to building together the foundations needed for the future.
My thanks to Vital Strategies, to all partners present today, and to everyone around the world engaged in this important work.
Thank you.