Professor Somaya Ben Allouch of the Digital Interactions Lab (DIL) at the University of Amsterdam’s Informatics Institute has received an NWO KIC grant for the EQUITY consortium. The consortium largely came about through the ELSA lab’s ‘AI for Health Equity’ initiative. EQUITY stands for ‘Enhancing Quality, Understanding, and Inclusion in Healthcare through socio-Technical AI sYstems’.

People with a lower socioeconomic status have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease but are harder to reach with preventive care and digital health tools. Much existing technology takes too little account of their daily circumstances, so innovations can unintentionally widen existing inequalities. The consortium is therefore developing the technology in co-creation with residents in their own neighborhoods and with employees in their workplaces, working together with healthcare professionals, civil society organizations, local authorities, employers, trade unions, hospitals and health insurers.

Three AI-supported solutions are being explored: an accessible community health check, simple monitoring tools for use at home, and a conversational AI tool that helps people find suitable support. They will be embedded in neighborhoods, workplaces and home environments. The consortium consists of the University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam UMC and Eindhoven University of Technology, alongside a broad network of public, private and community partners. Within the call ‘Reducing health inequalities’, NWO awarded grants to two projects, with a combined budget of 7 million euros.