Experts Advocate Cautious Use of AI in Public Health Promotion Practice

Experts in the field of Health Promotion and Education (HPE) have advocated cautious use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in public health promotion practice, like prescribing and taking medications, as such actions may be dangerous to health.

 

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The HPE experts disclosed that the practice of consulting the internet instead of qualified medical practitioners is on the increase, warning that medications prescribed by AI or sourced online may not take the medical history of patients into cognisance and may be more injurious.

 

The experts said this in separate remarks at the opening ceremony of the three-day 2nd Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Health Promotion and Education Alumni Association Ibadan College of Medicine (HPEAAICM) themed, “Artificial Intelligence and Innovations in Public Health”, held in Ibadan, Oyo State.

 

At the event, the President of HPEAAICM, Dr Bright Orji, explained that the conference seeks to open the eyes of stakeholders in the public health sector to the various possibilities inherent in AI as it relates to public health and safety, and how practitioners can leverage the tool for improved service delivery, while calling their attention to the various dangers associated with it.

 

He stated that AI has come to stay and there is the need for the correct information to be disseminated on social media platforms to prevent misinformation and disinformation, and promote moderation in the usage of AI among public health consumers and practitioners.

 

Recalling how the information on the treatment and cure for Ebola and Covid-19 was abused by many people, Orji affirmed that what the association set out to do is to ensure that AI is properly deployed and properly regulated so that people can benefit from it, and use it to improve the society and the lives of mankind.

 

“Many people believe in AI. With AI, there are so many things you can do in a second. So this is part of the benefit we want to ensure. With AI, Medical doctors going on ward round can be assisted to ensure that their ward round is facilitated, evident-based, and they can improve the lives of their patients using the deployment of AI,” the HPEAAICM president posited.

 

Similarly, the President, Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) Worldwide, Professor Emmanuel Otolorin, said although AI comes with a lot of opportunities that can be harnessed to improve healthcare delivery, public health consumers and practitioners must also be aware that AI can create what does not exit, but cannot take the place of professionals.

 

Prof. Otolorin said: “There are tools for processes that can be applied in healthcare delivery and I think that we’re quite new in the process now but over time people are going to be dissecting the different applications that are there and see how they can be deployed. Of course, they can also be abused. 

 

“My son is a computer scientist and he actually showed me how an AI tool created a drug that doesn’t exist and described side effects of the drug that actually doesn’t exist. So AI can hallucinate. You have to be a content expert and knowledgeable enough to know that what it had done is correct and not just adopt it.”

 

He warned public health practitioners not to see AI as all-knowing as the Nigeria Medical and Dental Council will deal decisively with medical practitioners who make mistakes on account of using AI, saying the purpose of attending medical school is to be taught how to identify patients with problems, analyse the problems, consider multiple solutions, and choose the best option for the patient.

 

In her address of welcome, the HPEAAICM conference Local Organising Committee Chairman, Mrs Deborah Jokodola, recommended taking health promotion practice to communities and not only where there are elites, saying using the computer will allow a lot of needed innovations that will help people to promote their health.

 

Jokodola noted: “In communities, they have android phones, iphones, that they use. We cannot underrate them. Even where they don’t have, there a lot of things in the environment that you can use as innovations to promote the health of the people within the community. 

 

“AI also helps in research. You can’t do research in a community without the people, it’s not possible. It helps in data gathering and when you have your data then you have your baseline and from data you can promote health,” Jokodola explained.