TRANSFORMATION IN PUBLIC HEALTH

WITH EQUITABLE ACCESS THROUGH AI

India being a traditional country with resource- constrained settings has seen Artificial Intelligence ( AI) proliferating the healthcare landscape. With the crisis caused by COVID- 19, the pandemic has inculcated a sense of realization amongst policymakers and public health professionals giving it a tremendous priority. COVID- 19 has created a sense of emergency pushing the public healthcare segment 5 years ahead of time.

While Public Health has undergone major duress, it has seen major transformations through AI. Artificial intelligence( AI) is the best example for reshaping public healthcare by providing constant, untiring, and swift analyses of data and improving data- sharing practices for better public health outcomes. During this time frame, a lot of data has been collected which cannot be neglected.

According to the Indian Journal of Public Health ( September 2017 edition), India had 4.8 practising doctors per 10,000 population. While this is expected to grow to 6.9 doctors per 10,000 people by 2030, the minimum doctor- to- patient ratio recommended by the World Health Organization ( WHO) is 1: 1000. The report by WHO says that three- quarters of the deaths occurring in low to middle- income countries i. e 71% deaths which culminates into 41 million people die across the globe due to noncommunicable diseases. The surge in NCD's and ageing population has overburdened the healthcare sector where healthcare professionals are looking for innovative ways to tackle the same.

Deep learning algorithms used in AI have been useful in predicting future events and data that is collated during the time of pandemic must be utilized to analyse and curb a future crisis. Big Data Analytics can prove to be useful in linking patient records. Big Data can be used to analyze demographics to implement healthcare policies and frameworks that would be beneficial for specific regions. Statistics and models used by AI can track how the diseases are progressing. AI can help all public health frontline professionals including laboratory technicians, nurses, physicians, and health educators to detect health issues and respond as sooner as to avoid the development of the diseases. The two popular and best programming languages of AI are Python and R. Both are free and open- source and being used by a large community. Python, as a general- purpose programming language, and As R is primarily for statistical analysis both have specific modules to develop AI applications. For those who are interested in data science working with large data sets and visualization, both languages are good. AI is classified into two categories. First in general, where this intelligence is the ability of a machine to perform any intellectual tasks that humans can do or perform.

The two popular and best programming languages of AI are Python and R. Both are free and open- source and being used by a large community

Second one has performed a single task extremely well as the ability of a machine.

The AI market worldwide is expected to grow at 52% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to $59 billion by 2025, as reported by Tractica. In the healthcare sector alone, revenue through AI software is expected to grow to $5.6 billion by 2025 at 69% CAGR. Among all the healthcare software domains, the medical image analysis has the highest growth potential with 203% CAGR. The other domains as represented in the graph have more than 50% CAGR.

According to a report by Ahuja (2019), AI in healthcare has the potential to reduce costs by 50% and improve health outcomes from 30% to 40%. Further, Accenture reported AI is expected to address an estimated 20% of the unmet clinical demand of physicians. Given the enormous amount of scope for AI in healthcare, there is a strong possibility for the creation of new jobs and the development of AI technologies in healthcare. Today we look at some of the most notable use cases for artificial intelligence within the healthcare sector like healthcare companies and hospitals have been rushed off their efforts in trying to take care of affected patients. Given the rapid advance in AI for imaging analysis, images of radiology and pathology, up to some extent are being examined by a machine. Virtual care through Telemedicine and nonpersonal care given through apps has been in trend. Digital technology is all about taking advantage of the prompt pace where computers can process information to draw insights and assist us to understand what kind of interventions prevent disaster and make us healthier.

In public health, it is just a beginning to use AI tools and techniques. Despite the limitation, the available AI techniques help in providing comprehensive information on individual health and also support in predicting population health, threats and their use for taking important administrative decisions for public health are likely to increase significantly shortly. So in the long run, the right and efficient use of AI technologies will surely help in achieving healthrelated goals at all levels. It is crucial to understand how AI can be used in healthcare and the challenges it creates. Certain universities provide online and offline certificate/ degree courses in AI in public health. Some institutions also provide Short term training programs specialized in AI in public health. There are many online platforms like Coursera, Edx, Simplilearn, etc which provide basic as well as advance online certificate/ degree courses from reputed national/ international academic institutions.

As the near end of the pandemic, artificial intelligence and Public health have been rewritten completely and new approaches have replaced whole business models and strategies. Artificial intelligence has a key role in helping professionals in their efforts to fight pandemics and plays an important device in the work being done for public health by giving awareness, distributing information, and managing administration.