WHO adds data analysis and AI to fight covid-19

Just days after Chikwe Ihekweazu took over the reins of the new pandemic intelligence center in the World Health Organization, a new highly mutated variant of the coronavirus appeared on scientists’ radar. Omicron incited countries to close their doors to southern Africa and threatened to widen an already worrying gap in access to vaccines.

Now Ihekweazu, a veteran epidemiologist who previously headed the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, aims to counter global discord with data.

The Berlin center plans to collect and share information to help governments predict, detect and respond to health emergencies more quickly, based on artificial intelligence and other tools.

He hopes to boost collaboration at a time when many countries are putting their own interests first.

The center, which will attract up to 120 people in the coming years, is moving forward alongside plans for an international treaty to bolster health defenses and other programs aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next crisis.

Ihekweazu, 50, spoke to Bloomberg and his comments have been edited for clarity and length.

What does Ómicron mean to the organization and how is it responding?

It has shown us how difficult the political landscape is and that the global governance that can guide decision-making in our common best interest is not strong enough.

Each nation-state feels entitled to make what it considers, sometimes even against the advice of its own scientists, to be the most politically expedient decision. We are not naive about the challenges, but we also see many opportunities. What happened to South Africa sharing its data is not a coincidence. To be honest, it seems very grim, but I think that as we develop not only the technical competence, but also the confidence that comes from working together, we can provide a counter influence to the dominant theme of watching TV every morning and wondering which countries. they have prevented other countries from crossing their borders.

How do you assess the risks posed by Ómicron and future variants?

We are programmed to think about how strong we are, the resources that we have as individuals or countries. How big is our army? It’s not about how large our military is, it’s about how much it can interact with the surrounding landscape to mitigate the impact of the threat. The world is always looking for simple answers. We are not equipped to think and respond to those complexities and we could run into a really difficult scenario.

How will this hub use data and technology in a smarter way to help nations move faster?

It is the Member States that actually have the primary responsibility for detection and response. Our role is to support them. They have been improving their own systems and in the last two years that has accelerated. But almost all countries are doing it on their own. There is no connection between them. They are not learning from each other. And we, as WHO, have historically not provided countries with as much support as we could in this particular area of ​​analysis, data, and decision-making.

This is not just a center in Berlin that is going to absorb the data and make a magical decision. If that’s the case, I probably wouldn’t be the right person to lead it, but this is really about working within the organization and with countries to build on our learning. Many things have been learned. Many technologies already exist. It’s about bringing them together.