Hundred and millions of queries on Google’s search engine are related to health, said Google’s chief health officer, Karen DeSalvo. “We have a third of the planet come to us every day asking a question. Hundred and millions of those questions are on health.”
DeSalvo was delivering a keynote address at the Global Digital Health Summit in Mumbai on Friday. The former Assistant Secretary of Health for the United States also described India’s national bid to digitise healthcare to be very considered.
He said, “What I think very special about India is this is part of a national vision about a very mobile first, very consumer driven kind of ecosystem. A lot of innovation but also a lot of very thoughtful structure about how to do this in a way that has the right privacy and governance in place. And I’m just as you say very optimistic about the opportunity. We’re really looking forward to to working with people here to see how we can realise that vision.”
DeSalvo’s comments come at a time when India has finally passed the data privacy bill, that could safeguard sensitive patient information collected by healthcare companies.
AI-enabled search
DeSalvo added that Google’s AI-enabled search capabilities, will allow for more personalised health advice to come to users. “We know that three out of four people first turn to the internet before they go into care and some people stop there. So we also know that that information they get is has to be really high quality and help them navigate to the next step. What we say the company is that information is a determinant of health. So that is one of the really critical ways that we work with consumers. So for example, we’ve just yesterday announced that we’ve got generative AI enabled search available here in India…..we have ways that we can work with messengers that resonate that with people so it’s not just a generic message but someone that you trust.”
Published on September 1, 2023
