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Abu Dhabi launches AI tender to predict epidemic threats

By Megha Merani
Doctors take a rest in a Covid-19 intensive care unit. The Abu Dhabi platform hopes to help avert such devastating epidemics with AI Reuters
Doctors take a rest in a Covid-19 intensive care unit. The Abu Dhabi platform hopes to help avert such devastating epidemics
  • AI aims to help epidemic prevention
  • Analyse complex information quickly
  • Using demographics and outbreak data

The Abu Dhabi Public Health Center has launched a tender for an artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to predict epidemic threats.

The aim is for the platform to use AI’s ability to process extensive and complex datasets at high speed as a way to analyse both local and international outbreak trends alongside national travel patterns to predict emerging outbreaks in real time. 

Such an early warning system could help government and public health professionals avert catastrophic outcomes.

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Key features of the system include the development of a local infectious diseases surveillance dashboard. 

This tool is intended to capture demographic data and outbreak clusters, and monitor environmental indicators such as food, water, animals and biological vectors, generating early warnings as automated alerts. 

The urgency for such technology is underscored by the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused more than 7 million deaths worldwide.

The virus cost the global economy more than $16 trillion in 2020 alone.

Emerging infections pose a persistent threat to public health security as cases rise very rapidly in a short period of time. 

While current pandemic planning heavily invests in diagnostics, drugs and vaccines – essential but often deployed after widespread transmission – early detection systems such as AI offer crucial preventive capabilities.

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