Artificial Intelligence and the Road Ahead

Earlier this year while visiting Locally Haiti supporters in Boston, I met with an old friend, a brilliant scientist and entrepreneur. I told him about our work in Haiti, the hospital project, and the current obstacles to healthcare in Petit Trou. 

In response, he referenced an Artificial Intelligence initiative that one of his companies is developing. In essence, it’s a program that speaks every language and synthesizes knowledge from across clinical specialties. He asked whether a Kreyol speaking A.I. program with exhaustive diagnostic capacity, available 24/7 for phone consults, would be helpful in Haiti.

I paused and then asked a series of questions:

• Where is the phone sitting?

• Is there electricity to keep the phone charged?

• Is there medication available to fill prescriptions?

• Is there a place to store the medications?

• Is there food to take the medication with?

• Are there beds for the patients to rest in? Chairs for their families to sit in?

• Is there a roof? A physical roof, to keep it all safe and dry?
  

As we enter the new year and marvel at the implications of new technologies and advances, there are 40,000 people in Petit Trou de Nippes with no access to basic infrastructure. It’s been 29 months since an earthquake devastated their community, and the only base for healthcare is still a handful of tents. 

Each of us knows what it feels like to be sick, what it is to have a family member in the hospital, what that deep and jarring vulnerability feels like even in the comfort of a modern healthcare facility. Most of us can’t imagine integrating that emotional landscape with the physical reality of a tent in 100 degree heat. 

The good news is that we know how to build dignified settings for community health and clinical care. It is not a mysterious or theoretical technology. The only question is whether we care enough to do it. This year, you said yes we do care enough, and thanks to that answer, we have broken ground and are making progress. 

On behalf of the mothers, fathers, and families of Petit Trou, thank you.

2024 will be a challenging year as we continue raising funds to complete the hospital build, to fund solar and hospital equipment, and to continue meeting our life-changing commitments in education, agriculture, and girls' empowerment. 

I’m grateful to each of you for your solidarity and support, and I’m thankful to our leaders in Petit Trou for pushing forward under the most trying circumstances, providing undeniable evidence that progress is possible when we invest in the talents and vision of the local leaders who know their community best.

We’ve come a long way together, and there are miles of road ahead. Thank you for walking this path with us. Thank you for being a part of this community.