Executive Summary
- An AI tool named ‘Health Sentinel’ has issued over 5,000 alerts for potential infectious outbreaks to Indian health authorities since April 2022.
- Developed by WadhwaniAI for the National Centre for Disease Control, the system automates disease surveillance by scanning millions of media articles in 13 languages.
- A study indicates the tool has reduced manual workload by 98% and was responsible for identifying 96% of published health events in 2024.
An artificial intelligence tool deployed by India’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has helped issue more than 5,000 real-time alerts for potential infectious disease outbreaks since its installation in April 2022, according to findings from a new study. The system, known as ‘Health Sentinel,’ was developed to automate the monitoring of media reports for early signs of public health threats across the country.
The tool, created by the New Delhi-based organization WadhwaniAI, scans millions of news articles daily in 13 different languages. This automated process is a core component of India’s ‘Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme’ (IDSP). According to a pre-print paper detailing the results, ‘Health Sentinel’ has processed over 300 million articles and identified more than 95,000 unique health events, of which public health experts at the NCDC shortlisted over 3,500 as potential outbreaks for further investigation.
Parag Govil, a program lead at WadhwaniAI, told the Press Trust of India that the system replaced a manual process of scanning media, significantly reducing the workload. “Introducing the ‘Health Sentinel’ solution has replaced this manual process while retaining a human-in-the-loop approach where epidemiologists perform essential verification before the information is disseminated,” Govil stated. The study suggests the AI tool slashed manual workload by approximately 98 percent.
The research team reported a 150 percent increase in the number of published health events since the tool’s implementation in 2022 compared to previous years that relied on human-based surveillance. Furthermore, in 2024, the AI was credited with extracting 96 percent of the health events published by the national surveillance system, highlighting its efficiency and reach.
The adoption of such technology represents a shift from traditional ‘passive reporting,’ where authorities rely on reports from physicians and healthcare providers. By proactively monitoring informal sources like online media, public health officials can achieve earlier detection of potential outbreaks and enable a more rapid response to safeguard public health.