Connecting for innovation and impact for all in global health
The HealthAI Global Governance Forum (HealthAI GGF) is an annual, flagship event that gathers global actors at the forefront of health, responsible AI, and governance. The Forum will bring together senior voices across health, AI, governance, policy, regulation, civil society, academia, industry and global health to explore the future of responsible AI in health.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way health services are delivered around the world, creating new opportunities to expand access, improve quality, and strengthen health systems. At the NCGHA Conference, join leaders from across academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector to explore how people-centered AI is being applied in practice, and what it will take to ensure these innovations improve health outcomes for all.
Convened by Vital Strategies under the PILLARs initiative, this 60-minute exchange on August 12 at 9:00AM ET / 6:00AM PT will bring together a small group of country representatives, regional institutions, and technical partners to explore one shared question: How are countries designing and implementing trusted and inclusive digital IDs that are rooted in CRVS systems and advance public health goals?
On July 14, 2026, the MERL Tech Initiative’s Africa AI Learning Group at the Natural Language Processing Community of Practice (NLP-CoP) will convene a special World Café working session. Participants will work in small groups with peers from across the continent, debating, co-creating, and stress-testing ideas together. The session centers on values and principles: what should a Made in Africa AI in MERL framework actually stand for, and what competencies, i.e technical, ethical, governance-related, and contextual, do evaluators need to put those commitments into practice?
Organized by Transform Health, this session at WSIS Forum 2026 will look at health data governance in the digital age, including how AI is changing the game. It will explore the need for urgent action to strengthen national, health-specific legal and regulatory frameworks, as well as the need for regional and global frameworks to support more secure, ethical, and equitable data and AI use and foster responsible cross-border data sharing. It will showcase recent tools and initiatives to advance this agenda, progress on regional frameworks, as well as global discussions through the World Health Assembly.
This in-person workshop, featuring the MERL Tech Initiative, spotlights real results from deploying open source Generative AI across three nations that are effectively transforming public services in health, agriculture, and climate resilience. Built on the first-ever GenAI for Good Challenge, it cuts through theory and goes straight to what matters: concrete pilots, operational lessons, and early impact already taking shape on the ground. Taking place on July 9, at 2:00 PM CET, this workshop will conclude with a networking cocktail reception, offering participants the opportunity to continue discussions, exchange insights, and explore potential collaborations.
On June 24, 2026, from 9:30 AM-4:00 PM ET in Washington D.C., Kevin Hong (The MERL Tech Initiative and Columbia University) is facilitating AEA’s Summer Workshop, which will focus on practical frameworks for assessing AI tools based on performance, alignment with organizational values, risk, and real-world impact.
Join the MERL Tech Initiative and its AI Design & UX Learning Group as it brings together designers and researchers working at the frontlines of AI for social impact for a focused session on what safety means in practice. Across three short, discussion-led segments, participants will move from definitions to practice: exploring how actors in the social sector are identifying specific AI safety risks in the tools they build, how that thinking is shaping concrete design decisions, and what rigorous safety testing looks like, including why automated tools alone are not enough.
At a time when global health is rethinking old models, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance community asked a sharper question: what must we build next? On May 28, the Alliance convened its multisector community in San Francisco and online for a members-only gathering that created space for candid, provocative conversation about the future of global health — from the role of technology and power, to the shift from market shaping to market building, to the trusted partnerships needed to navigate change.
At the Alliance’s 2026 Annual Meeting, Krista Donaldson, Alliance board member and director of innovation to impact at Stanford Biodesign, moderated a fireside conversation with Raffi Krikorian, chief technology officer at Mozilla and board chair at Mozilla.ai and Medic, exploring how global health leaders should think about technology, power, and responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
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The Ethics and Governance Group at The MERL Tech Initiative’s NLP-CoP is hosting a conversation about AI autonomy, regionalization and ethics on May 25, 2026 at 7:00am PT | 10:00am ET | 4:00pm Harare | 10:00pm Singapore. MTI will be joined by Chenai Chair (from Masakhane African Languages Hub), William Tjhi (from SEA-LION), Maria Luciano (LSE) and Wayan Vota (ICTworks).
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On May 7, the Alliance convened leaders from HealthAI, Transform Health, and Vital Strategies for a candid conversation on what AI governance means in practice — and why it is quickly becoming central to whether AI strengthens health systems or deepens existing inequities. Co-moderated by Daniel Messer, chief digital and IT transformation officer at FHI 360, and Sara Anderson, executive director of the Alliance, the discussion focused not only on safeguards and regulation, but on the deeper infrastructure required for responsible and sustainable AI adoption.
Join MIT, Stanford, and Threshold Ventures from May 1-2 for a two-day conference in the Bay Area gathering founders, funders, clinicians, artists, and community voices to reflect on, reimagine and re-invigorate the healthcare innovation ecosystem. Over two, participants will challenge the status quo of entrepreneurship, question whose values drive innovation, and rethink how health innovation actually gets built, beyond Silicon Valley’s echo chamber.
On May 5th, 2026, the MERL Tech Initiative is hosting an event about tech-enabled community listening and the place of emerging technologies in this work. During this online gathering, the speakers will share their experiences regarding tech-enabled community listening and the place of emerging technologies, including AI, in their work.
Join the Bay Area Global Health Alliance on May 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM PT for a virtual convening on AI Governance, as part of our AI and Global Health Discussion Series. This convening will feature Alliance members HealthAI, Transform Health, and Vital Strategies in a discussion on why AI governance is central to health reform, digital transformation, and responsible innovation in global health, particularly in LMIC contexts.
Join the Bay Area Global Health Alliance for a virtual convening on April 30, 2026, from 8:00–9:00am PT on “Building Country-led Ecosystems to Scale Global Health Innovation.” This discussion brings together leaders from Google Research Africa and Amp Health, moderated by eHealth Africa, to examine how locally rooted innovation ecosystems are being built — and what it takes to make them last.
As the Geneva Digital Health Hub’s annual Geneva Digital Health Day conference approaches, they are hosting a series of three webinars, one for each track, designed to provide an initial overview of the topics and a preview of the conference agenda. Each webinar will feature a keynote presentation and two solution pitches, followed by breakout rooms for interactive networking, providing an intimate opportunity to connect with peers, exchange ideas and expand your professional network.
This session will begin with an introduction to the fundamentals of AI, followed by practical examples of how AI-driven tools are being adopted in resource-limited countries to enhance HIV prevention, treatment and care. The session will integrate perspectives from affected communities and explore the ethical considerations necessary to ensure that AI contributes to people-centered and stigma-free services.