ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to receive a major boost in its healthcare modernization efforts as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) rolls out a new regional technical assistance programme aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in health services. The initiative, titled Reaping the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence for Service Excellence in Health (RAISE Health), forms part of a broader regional program. The USD950,000 technical assistance project, financed by the People’s Republic of China Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund, will deliver knowledge to inform project design and implementation of ADB projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Project documents noted that in addition, the TA will provide capacity development to country counterparts through study tours, regional workshops, and training opportunities. The TA will prioritize empowering women through potential productivity gains from AI adoption and enhancing female health workers’ digital and AI literacy. The regional TA will enhance the understanding and accelerate the deployment of AI applications in health among ADB developing member countries (DMCs). It will strengthen AI governance frameworks and improve the readiness of health systems to adopt AI applications toward more equitable access and efficient delivery of quality health services. The TA will survey the available AI tools in health care and help DMCs develop road maps for home-grown AI ecosystems that integrate considerations for research and development, technology transfer, commercialization and procurement. The TA is aligned with ADB’s Strategy 2030 Midterm Review and the Strategy 2030 Health Sector Directional Guide. It will contribute to ADB’s strategic priorities of digital transformation, private sector development, and resilience and empowerment, and will support the achievement of indicators 2, 3, 4, and 11 of the Corporate Results Framework, 2025-2030. The TA support to enhance health services accessibility and quality is aligned with ADB’s country partnership strategies for the participating DMCs, reaffirming the improvement of health services as an investment in human development and human capital formation. The documents further noted that the region has achieved significant health gains since 2010 and demonstrated resilience in recovering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, many DMCs’ health systems remain insufficiently equipped to manage the rising challenges posed by non-communicable diseases, reemerging and novel infectious diseases, and aging populations. Globally, the universal health coverage (UHC) service coverage index has risen from 54 in 2000 to 71 in 2023. Asia and the Pacific have experienced similar upward trends, though many DMCs lag global averages. At the same time, countries in the region-particularly middle-income economies-continue to face rising out-of-pocket spending. The governments of participating DMCs have requested ADB to help develop practical AI governance frameworks for anticipated AI innovations, including validation mechanisms, ways to safeguard data privacy and avoid algorithmic bias, and post-market performance monitoring strategies They are also keen to learn from best practices and use cases for AI tools in clinical care and health care management. The TA will focus on three types of AI applications that are relevant for ADB projects and are becoming mature. First is the application of AI in the clinical context, including AI-assisted smart point-of-care diagnosis and treatment. Advances in image processing and pattern recognition allow medical equipment to become -smart- enough to generate highly accurate diagnoses at the point of care. These have been applied in many clinical fields, including cervical and other types of cancer screening, radiological imaging, ophthalmology, dermatology, and high-resolution microscopy. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026