2026 Seminars

Artificial intelligence (AI) is generating growing interest across the humanitarian and development sectors as a tool to improve data analysis, optimize resource allocation, strengthen early warning systems, and expand access to essential health services in fragile settings.

Yet its integration into humanitarian and development health programmes raises strategic, political, and operational questions that remain largely unresolved. Who defines the priorities for AI deployment? How can AI solutions respond to the needs of affected populations rather than the priorities of those who fund or develop them? How can humanitarian actors mitigate risks of algorithmic bias, exclusion, surveillance, and technological dependence?

These questions are especially acute in humanitarian settings, where health information systems are often fragmented, donor-driven, or absent, and available data may be incomplete or difficult to validate. Data sovereignty becomes critical when crisis-affected populations generate data yet have little control over how it is collected, shared, or reused once operations conclude. And while ethical principles and governance frameworks for AI have multiplied, their implementation remains inconsistent, with accountability for AI-assisted decisions diffused across governments, UN agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, and private technology providers.

The Lancet Commission on Health, Conflict, and Forced Displacement underscores the urgency of these issues, calling for more equitable governance, locally led approaches, and responsible innovation to strengthen health systems in crisis-affected settings.

This panel will bring together policymakers, humanitarian implementers, digital health innovators, development partners, and private sector representatives to examine the opportunities and limitations of AI in humanitarian and development health programmes. Framed around the Commission's recommendations, the discussion will identify the governance structures, financing models, data practices, partnerships, and inclusive design principles needed to ensure AI is deployed ethically, sustainably, and in ways that strengthen both humanitarian action and long-term development goals.