Artificial intelligence for access to primary healthcare in rural settings

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) may enhance access to primary health care in rural settings, especially in areas with an underserved and rural populace, due to systemic challenges in infrastructure inadequacies, shortages of trained professionals, and poor preventive measures. This paper discusses the transformative roles of AI technologies in the efforts toward bridging these gaps by improving healthcare delivery and access. With the rise of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP), AI applications may enhance diagnostic accuracy, speed up and facilitate patient interfaces, and perform resource management more optimally. This list of benefits seems promising, but the realization of AI in healthcare faces quite a few challenges: it requires ethical considerations, assurance of data safety, and sound legal frameworks. While AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile health (mHealth) technologies create innovative solutions in remote monitoring and consultation, these technologies help promote prevention. Realizing the full potential of AI in rural health is thus a challenge in both infrastructural and socio-economic spheres, requiring active collaboration. This present study indicates that it is high time there was an urgent need for high-quality research with real-world evaluation regarding the effectiveness of AI in bringing improvement in health outcomes among people in rural settings.