In this section, we introduce the core motivation and public health benefits for the AICOM project. Today, there exists a staggering gap of life expectancy in the advanced economies (e.g. the OECD member countries), versus that of LDCs. This gap is mainly attributed to the lack of health care access in LDCs, and in a broader scope of general under-served and hard-to-reach populations. Examining the LDC populations, we found that most people have access to mobile phones but not to internet. As a result, most existing AI doctors, which require internet access, would not be able to help closing this gap. AICOM aims to close this gap through enabling AI doctors on affordable mobile phones without internet connectivity.
3.1 Health Care Access and Life Expectancy
Figure 1a summarizes the World Bank data illustrating the average life expectancy at birth of LDCs versus OECD member countries from 2006 to 2020 [7]. The darkened region between the two lines corresponds to their notable difference over time, and its area implies the need to promote the healthcare services of LDCs. There was approximately a 20% contrast in average life expectancy at birth between the two categories of countries in 2006, but such a gap was only reduced to around 17% in 2020. Although this implies that health condition in LDCs has improved over the years, the degree of reduction reveals the vulnerability of their healthcare systems, as demonstrated by a drop in life expectancy in 2020, when COVID-19 global pandemic took place.
Increased access to high-quality essential services is vital: at least half the world’s population still lacks coverage of essential health services [8]. Poverty population in LDCs has less access to health services than those in OECD countries. Within any nation, the poorer tend to face greater barriers to health services. To address this exact problem, AICOM aims to facilitate SDG3.8: access to quality essential healthcare services by implementing AI technologies on affordable mobile phones independent of network access by improving geographic accessibility, hence reducing the financial burden and creating acceptability between providers and the community [9].
3.2 Proactive Health Care Delivery and Health Expenditure
Figure 1b summarizes the World Bank data [10] displaying the percentage of health expenditure relative to the GDP in both LDCs and OECD member states from 2000 to 2019. Alarmingly, the mean health expenditure of LDCs merely increased by less than 1% over 19 years, while the corresponding depiction for OECD countries records an increase of approximately 2%. The lack of financial allocation towards medical institutions is insinuated by a low proportion of health expenditure, resulting in various ramifications wherein people may be denied access to professional and reliable medical treatments due to financial constraints.
Moreover, medical facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies may be subjected to a shortage of wealth, imped- ing their capacity to purchase avant-garde medicines, advanced equipment, or to hire medical professionals [11] [12]. The pandemic also exacerbated systemic deficiencies, such as lack of investment in essential public health functions and surveillance and shortages of health workers [8]. As a result, countries with low health expenditures are less likely to receive quality healthcare insurance and their healthcare systems tend to suffer from under-staffing and lack of IT support, leading to severe health disparities.
Unfortunately, implementing universal health care coverage in LDCs requires considerable funding, which underde- veloped communities lack. A less financially demanding solution is to employ preemptive actions through timely identification and diagnosis [13]. Healthcare providers can use the relevant software, such as a mobile AI doctor, as a platform to serve pre-examination consultations, early screening of diseases, and spontaneous electronic medical record [14].
AICOM’s aspirations lie in the redirection of focus, away from the mere reaction to symptoms and towards preventing the outbreak of diseases at the very outset. By empowering proactive healthcare delivery, AICOM contributes to lowering health expenses and reducing the prevalence of highly infectious diseases by early detection, thereby not only alleviating the pressure imposed on medical professionals and caregivers but enabling medical establishments to make prior arrangements for medical provisions in a proactive manner [13].
3.3 Mobile Phone Penetration and Network Coverage
Taking advantage of health AI technologies often require internet access. However, the lack of network infrastructures in many countries often hinder the infusion of beneficial health AI technologies into society [15]. Before the advent of AICOM, mobile phone penetration rate along with network coverage rate are two essential factors of the infusion of AI doctors into a society. People in a society with a high mobile phone penetration rate yet a low network coverage rate can not have effective AI doctor access.
Figure 1c summarizes the World Bank data illustrating the evolution of network coverage and mobile phone penetration rates in LDCs from 2006 to 2021 [16]. The reality is people in LDCs have high mobile phone penetration rate but very low network coverage rate. Although, promisingly, the two rates have grown over time, an apparent discrepancy between them is shown in the figure: in 2006, the mobile phone penetration rate was approximately 10%, and the network coverage rate was around 2%; in 2021, the former increased to roughly 84%, whereas the latter only increased to 36%. Indeed, from 2006 to 2021, the gap between the network coverage and mobile phone penetration rates widened.
Essentially, by enabling AI doctors on mobile phones without internet access, AICOM effectively eliminates the network coverage rate factor for AI doctors’ infusion into a society, and thus accelerates the progress towards affordable and universal health care access. In addition, a critical benefit enabled by AICOM’s technology is the elimination of privacy concerns as patients’ data will be processed on his or her mobile phone only and will not be sent over the internet for further processing [17].