Global health is in crisis, with severe budget cuts rippling outward from key donors like the U.S. government, to multilateral institutions facing budget shortfalls, to community health workers who are being asked to do more with less.
It’s a moment of turmoil that has many looking for new tools that might help ease these burdens and guide global health efforts into its next, uncertain era. For some, technology like artificial intelligence has a key role to play in that transition. For others, the needs are simpler and more immediate.
“There are challenges with the technology coming, because in remote areas there is no power,” said Saida Shisia Odour, a community health worker supervisor from Kakamega County in Kenya, at a World Health Assembly panel hosted by Devex in Geneva, Switzerland, last week.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
