About WHO
Our primary role is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations system. Our main areas of work are health systems; health through the life-course; noncommunicable and communicable diseases; preparedness, surveillance and response; and corporate services.Activities by WHO
Madagascar Multi-hazard Early Warning System
Africa MadagascarMadagascar Multi-hazard Early Warning System strengthens Madagascar's disaster risk reduction capacity by integrating monitoring for drought, floods, cyclones, landslides, and epidemics into a single platform. It leverages real-time data and predictive analytics with interactive mapping to support government institutions and UN agencies in building resilience and enabling timely, coordinated humanitarian response. The system enhances risk-informed decision-making through integrated data analytics, GIS mapping, and early warning capabilities that advance sustainable development and protect vulnerable communities.
Activity Type AI Tools/SolutionsTrainings/WorkshopsResearch/Reports/AssessmentsInfrastructure/Systems DevelopmentPulseSatellite: A collaboration tool using human-AI interaction to analyse satellite imagery
Africa, Asia and the Pacific BangladeshSomalia
PulseSatellite is a collaborative satellite image analysis tool that leverages neural network models that can be retrained on-the-fly and adapted to specific humanitarian contexts and geographies. The tool has models for mapping structures in refugee settlements, roof density detection, and flood mapping.
We are also working closely with UNOSAT to develop benchmark datasets for shelter (refugee camp) mapping, building footprint detection and damage assessment. We plan to use these to test many of the available well trained and top-performing models, but in the context of UN-focused datasets (e.g. with more of a Global South and development context than many of the standard machine learning benchmarks) and make this available as a service to the UN system.
Operational contexts are rapidly changing, meaning that AI models may not always perform well. Through using a human-in-the-loop approach we have found that models can be adapted to such changing settings, however, this still requires (sometimes significant) manual intervention from analysts.
UN DataA
GlobalThe UN Data platform is being modernized to improve access to authoritative statistical data, enhance search and analytics, and enable data interoperability. It supports natural language search using LLM technologies and is being made "AI-ready" by harmonizing concepts for semantic integration.
Activity Type Infrastructure/Systems DevelopmentAI Tools/SolutionsResearch/Reports/AssessmentsOnline radio monitoring for public health social listening and beyond
AfricaA radio monitoring pipeline was developed to 'listen' to online radio stations, transcribe the audio using machine learning speech-to-text models, and analyze the content using NLP methods. The dashboard is used by infodemic managers and decision-makers to inform public health interventions.
Activity Type AI Tools/SolutionsResearch/Reports/Assessments