Pandemic preparedness must rely on AI and digital strategies that are shared globally, says Vincent Buscemi, Partner and Head of Independent Health and Care for Bevan Brittan LLP
For most living people, the COVID pandemic represented the first real global health emergency in their experience. It also acted as a huge stress test for digital health transformation, which became front and centre during lockdowns. A quantum leap forced innovation in the way most people accessed non-COVID-related or non-emergency healthcare.
With AI-powered diagnostics, real-time epidemiological modelling became mainstream in very little time. As health systems rebuilt and turned their attention to different ways of delivering healthcare and health services, there was a real strategic imperative for digital and AI-driven health transformation. The question now is: to what extent does that strategic imperative—together with the current commercial and investment landscape and some of the regulatory and governance issues—lead to the building of pandemic-ready health systems today?
The WHO Pandemic Accord
Although the UK has signalled its support, nations tend to place their own interests first. Whilst health security is important, data security is equally important, and the agreement is essentially designed to preserve national sovereignty over public health response—a key driver for most countries, including the UK.
The agreement represents a negotiated position, balancing those conflicting drivers of global cooperation with domestic control. Ultimately, such frameworks can only be tested in a real-world environment, and the extent to which the principle of multilateralism will truly be felt may be weakened if it comes at the cost of local adaptability.
The pandemic demonstrated that no single country can manage future health threats alone. But if health security and a go-it-alone mentality become the norm, it will lead to significant health inequality, and health equity will suffer as a result.
Where do AI and digital tools come into this? Pandemics tend to come out of nowhere and “just go boom.” Through the effective use of digital technology, we could build early warning systems for emerging symptom clusters at national or international levels.
The strategic imperative for digital and AI-driven health exists because health systems around the world are under pressure. Tech-enabled health systems, AI, and digital technologies offer “pressure release valves” through their ability to shift care upstream, personalise treatment, focus on prevention, and automate a range of routine tasks.
The resulting global data pools open opportunities for predictive analytics, enabling early warning systems and information-sharing platforms for the next public health emergency. But all this depends on the willingness of nations to share information.
Working together for pandemic preparedness
Global investment in health tech and digital health has continued to accelerate. In the UK, the convergence of digital ambition with the government’s move from analogue to digital, alongside a vibrant academic research environment, accelerator programmes, and early-stage venture capital, has created fertile ground for innovation.
Governments and health systems must work together with innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors to streamline market entry and co-design procurement frameworks that can support rapid response in future crises.
More sandboxing environments—like the MHRA’s for testing AI as a medical device in live conditions—will be essential on a global scale to test capacity for real-time health emergency response.
Technology and AI will not replace clinicians, but clinicians will need to use them more effectively. Despite large-scale investment, scalability and infrastructure remain major barriers, as do time and workforce education in new technologies. Workforce planning is key to any tech or AI integration: will these tools add complexity, or risk over-reliance and clinician deskilling?
Global approaches to population health threats
The UK holds a rare combination of strengths: a centralised health system, a rich and dynamic academic community, and, since Brexit, a degree of regulatory independence. Yet unlike the UAE—with its Ministry of Health and Prevention—the UK has yet to invest in prevention at scale.
The pandemic underscored the vital importance of maintaining public trust, something the UK government struggled with. Despite efforts to project transparency, public confidence eroded, and rebuilding it may take generations.
Findings from Modules 1 and 2 of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry highlight key lessons: inadequate preparedness, an insufficiently precautionary approach, a lack of learning from past experiences, and a disordered approach to PPE procurement.
Meanwhile, the Middle East and Asia are moving faster in their digital preparedness, driven by international strategy and the desire to differentiate from Western economies. Gulf states have embedded AI and digital health at the heart of their transformation agendas.
The UAE’s National Strategy for AI 2031 identifies healthcare as a top priority sector, and Saudi Vision 2030 includes a vast digital health programme backed by heavy state investment. By contrast, most Western economies face the drag of expensive legacy health systems that are not as agile. Such intense state-led investment enables rapid scaling, and these countries appear far more nimble in integrating technology into health delivery.
Singapore’s “3Ps” healthcare system—Prevention, Population Health, and Personal Responsibility—reflects a hybrid model of free-market mechanisms within a tightly managed policy framework. Its focus on affordability, personal accountability, and sustainability makes it a global benchmark for middle- to high-income nations facing ageing populations.
Overcoming security and trust issues
Singapore designed a test-and-trace COVID app that it offered to other countries. Yet the UK chose to spend millions developing its own, losing valuable time. Was that an efficient use of limited global resources? This example shows how national security often trumps health security—a tension that must be resolved before the next pandemic.
At the heart of this challenge lies a lack of trust in how health data is handled. Healthcare data is among the most valuable in the world. While the public recognises the benefits of digital healthcare, many apps remain insecure, and data breaches continue to erode confidence.
During COVID-19, people feared their information was being used for purposes they hadn’t consented to. The central question is how to create a safe, trusted environment for storing and sharing medical histories.
This dilemma is critical for pandemic preparedness, as effective response depends on real-time access to accurate data. Adding complexity is the growing use of AI to detect and flag health misinformation. Earlier this year, the WHO convened a virtual roundtable to explore best practices for AI-driven detection, labelling, and response.
The path forward demands proportional investment in ethics, governance, cybersecurity, patient engagement, workforce training, and misinformation control. Without robust frameworks and public trust—without winning hearts and minds—there’s a serious risk of widening inequalities and provoking backlash.
In such a climate, pandemic response can become politicised or even weaponised, leading health systems to turn inward. History shows that when nations respond to health crises from a purely national standpoint, the likelihood of global disaster rises sharply.
In today’s interconnected world, healthcare must be understood and managed as a shared global responsibility—now and in the future.
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