On April 10, 2026, two Youth Advisory Group Members represented JA PreventNCD in the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) youth consultation on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and a framework for digitally-enabled health systems.
Relevance to Youth and NCDs
The consultation served as a timely reminder that health systems must be responsive across the entire life course. Youth, aged 18–35, represent a critical window that existing frameworks frequently overlook, despite this being a formative period for the beliefs and behaviours most closely linked to NCD risk. As digital natives, young people are well-positioned to champion digital transformation in public health and healthcare; yet, this potential remains largely unrealised without structured investment in ensuring their digital literacy and meaningful attention to the digital determinants of health. One of the main points that were being discussed during the consultation were about fairness in AI-based systems, data usage and the future application of automated medical systems.
“Digitally-enabled health systems have the power to either deepen or reduce social disparities in NCDs. Youth are one of many subpopulations that need to be active members of this transformation.”
- Dana Alsaialy, Youth Advisory Group Member
In the workshop, participants voiced data security as a foremost concern, alongside the need to understand not just the technology itself but the logic underpinning AI-assisted decision-making. Opinions were divided on several practical applications. For example:
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the emotional consequences of chatbot use, including the risk of a false sense of safety and the appeal of interactions perceived as free from human judgement.
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accountability when AI-supported diagnostics cause harm, the handling of complex NCD cases, and overall reliability in AI-based systems, as they are still prone to making errors (both medical and administrative) and misinforming patients and staff, especially in emergency situations
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the potential for biased datasets to reinforce existing health disparities and stigma, and the ethical dilemma in improving these datasets requiring training data.
Simultaneously, there was also recognition of the genuine opportunities digital health tools offer, particularly in educating patients and supporting those living in remote, rural, or underserved areas. Youth participants expressed a clear desire for continuous capacity-building, both for the general youth population and the next generation of healthcare professionals, so that they are equipped both to use digital health systems effectively and to report shortcomings when they arise.
“Youth’s involvement in creating digital health policies has to be continuous."
- Stefan Stojanovik, Youth Advisory Group Member
Relevance to JA PreventNCD
DTH-Lab’s framework is a result of rigorous co-design methodology, which can serve as a blueprint for institutions to adopt. However, it is still essential to test/simulate said frameworks across diverse contexts (e.g., regional, cultural, and socioeconomic), as adoption increases the more tailored a specific solution is. This consultation was a reminder that in NCD prevention, when an issue spans multiple domains- such as health and technology-it is essential that the non-health domain is intentionally and explicitly integrated for health-specific use cases (for example, digital data privacy frameworks must be designed specifically as digital health data privacy frameworks, rather than remaining generic). It is also essential that an approach builds on and aligns with existing work (e.g., standards of WHO, ECDC) to avoid duplication. Young people must be meaningfully and continuously involved in shaping digital health guidelines and policies, alongside ongoing communication and collaboration with key stakeholders.