KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Aga Khan University (AKU) have signed a three-year Letter of Collaboration to integrate a National Artificial Intelligence Hub for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health into Sindh’s public healthcare system, bringing AI-supported tools to frontline primary healthcare services.
Supported by the Gates Foundation through a multi-year grant, the initiative aims to use artificial intelligence to improve maternal, newborn and child health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations.
The agreement was signed at the office of Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho by Sindh Health Secretary Tahir Hussain, LUMS Associate Professor Dr Maryam Mustafa, Hub Director and Principal Investigator, and Dr Karim Damji, Dean of the Medical College at AKU.
Dr Anita Zaidi, President of Gender Equality at the Gates Foundation, was present at the signing. AKU Associate Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health Dr Zahra Hoodbhoy, who has been working on point-of-care ultrasound AI models, also attended.
Under the collaboration, the three institutions will jointly introduce risk-stratification models, clinical decision-support systems and voice-assisted tools for frontline healthcare providers delivering maternal and child health services.
Dr Azra Pechuho said the initiative would focus on primary healthcare facilities.
“I would like to see healthier babies, and prematurity rates go down,” she said, adding that she hoped the initiative would also help identify congenital problems and improve paramedical services.
The AI Hub is the culmination of a multi-year collaboration involving computer scientists, human-centred design experts and clinical epidemiologists.
Its clinical research component is led by Dr Fyezah Jehan, Chair of AKU’s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. Her clinical trial networks, maternal-newborn cohort datasets and field-based epidemiological research are expected to provide real-world clinical validation for predictive algorithms and help ensure that AI models are responsive to healthcare delivery in low-resource settings.
AKU Medical College Dean Dr Karim Damji said the initiative demonstrated how AI could be used to improve services for mothers, newborns and children while making healthcare more efficient and cost-effective.
We have brilliant faculty and that's the magic,” Dr Damji said. “I think it's fantastic because we are serving people better, in this case maternal, newborn, child health, and using technology and artificial intelligence to make healthcare more efficient, accessible and cost-effective.
