Strategic Arab-German Network for Affordable and Democratized AI (SANAD)

In recent years, the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing global healthcare has become evident, offering promising advancements in diagnostic precision, personalized treatment, and healthcare delivery. However, integrating AI into low-resource environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), remains constrained by significant barriers such as limited computational resources, inadequate local data, and financial constraints. The Strategic Arab-German Network for Affordable and Democratized AI in Healthcare (SANAD- سند) seeks to address these challenges by fostering collaboration, empowering local expertise, and advancing Affordable AI and Collaborative Federated Learning solutions tailored to underserved regions. The word “SANAD” means support in Arabic, which is what this project is about.

SANAD aims to bridge the healthcare gap between resource-rich and resource-limited settings, particularly the Global North and Global South disparity. Many existing AI models are developed using centralized datasets from well-funded institutions, which often fail to generalize across diverse populations and contexts. SANAD proposes a strategic, inclusive approach to democratizing access to AI by leveraging interdisciplinary expertise and promoting knowledge-sharing between Arab and German stakeholders

Measures:

• Summer School on Medical Imaging with Deep Learning, Tunisia
• Workshop on Affordable AI, Germany

Partners:

• Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon
• University of Tunis El-Manar (UTM), Tunisia
• Duhok Polytechnic University (DPU), Iraq
• Albarqouni Lab, University of Bonn, Germany

Funding:

The project is funded by: