AI’s next leap: Expanding health care access in emerging markets

By Melissa Linares, MBA ’26

AI in health care is often discussed through the lens of developed markets, incremental efficiency gains, administrative automation and optimization of already-digitized systems. In emerging markets, the story is fundamentally different. AI is not a convenience; it is a catalyst for access, equity and system-level transformation.

In this episode of Beating Sisyphus, produced by the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets in collaboration with the Cornell Emerging Markets Institute Club, I moderated a conversation with four leaders working at the intersection of clinical care, engineering, digital health and AI-enabled safety systems. Together, we explored how emerging markets are leapfrogging legacy barriers and building AI-native health care models that look nothing like those in the U.S. and in many ways are moving faster.

AI’s biggest opportunity: Access over efficiency

When asked about the single biggest opportunity AI creates for emerging markets, panelists converged on one theme: access.

In countries where specialists are scarce and infrastructure is thin, AI becomes a force multiplier. Brian Baldeo noted that AI-guided diagnostic tools in places like Kenya allow front-line nurses to perform screenings once reserved for specialists. This is not about shaving seconds off workflows; it is about bringing lifesaving care to communities that have never had it.

Fumei Cerecino Mayer emphasized AI’s ability to reduce friction across fragmented systems, triage, routing, documentation and decision support, especially in regions where out-of-pocket costs and travel distances create enormous barriers.

Joe Benson highlighted a unique advantage: Emerging markets can build AI-native systems from scratch, unburdened by legacy electronic health records. They can design for their own realities rather than retrofitting U.S. systems.

Infrastructure: Building the foundation while scaling innovation

Deploying AI in environments with unreliable power grids and limited broadband requires more than software; it requires engineering foresight.

Baldeo outlined three foundational pillars:

• Stable power: Africa’s rapid expansion of solar and hydropower is creating the backbone for digital health.
• Reliable broadband: Many countries are leapfrogging landlines entirely, moving straight to fourth- and fifth-generation (4G/5G) mobile networks.
• End-user hardware: Affordable smartphones and tablets are becoming the new clinical interface.

Indonesia’s SATUSEHAT platform and Kenya’s mobile health ecosystem shows how infrastructure constraints can spark innovation rather than limit it.

Safety, compliance and guardrails for responsible AI

AI cannot scale without trust, and trust requires safety.

Benson underscored the importance of “designing for safe speed,” moving quickly without compromising patient protection. Emerging markets must adopt:

• Risk-tiered oversight, as seen in India’s national framework for safe and responsible AI in health
• AI sandboxes for controlled testing
• Continuous monitoring and incident reporting
• Shared accountability among governments, clinicians and developers

Workflow tools like triage and audits can scale rapidly, while clinical decision support must move more cautiously with human-in-the-loop oversight.

Data as the foundation for AI

AI is only as strong as the data beneath it. In many emerging markets, that data is fragmented or nonexistent.

Andres Suarez-Londono highlighted the Plano Brasileiro de Inteligência Artificial (PBIA), Brazil’s national AI plan, which includes:

• Spoken medical records
• AI-driven procurement
• Diagnostic optimization
• Anomaly detection
• Centralized purchasing power that outperforms even the U.S. on drug pricing

Colombia’s interoperability legislation is another model, ensuring that electronic medical records can communicate across systems.

These examples show that emerging markets are not copying U.S. systems; they are building better ones.

Clinical operations: What transfers and what doesn’t

Drawing from U.S. health system experience, Mayer outlined what translates well:

• Workflow mapping
• Root-cause analysis
• Change management
• Data governance
• Quality measurement

She also noted what breaks down: assumptions about staffing ratios; specialist availability; reimbursement models; and digital maturity. Emerging markets require solutions designed for scarcity, not abundance.

Entrepreneurship and capital: Designing for real-world constraints

Founders building for emerging markets must design differently. Solutions must:

• Work offline
• Function on low-cost devices
• Scale without donor dependency
• Align with local payment realities

Nigeria’s booming health-tech sector and Rwanda’s AI-driven procurement platform (Viebeg) demonstrate what’s possible when innovation meets local need.

Looking ahead: What success looks like in 2031

We closed with a forward-looking question: If we reconvene in 2031, what headline do we hope to celebrate

Across the panel, the vision was clear:

• AI-enabled primary care reaching every village
• National digital health systems rivaling those of developed markets
• Reduced diagnostic delays for cancer, stroke and chronic disease
• Universal access to safe, high-quality care
• Emerging markets leading, not following, the global AI health movement

The velocity of change is the story. Indonesia, India, Brazil and Nigeria have shown how quickly transformation can happen when innovation meets urgency.

This conversation made one thing clear: Emerging markets are not waiting for the future of health care; they are building it. In many ways, they are building more quickly and more equitably than the systems that came before them.

AI is not the solution, but in the hands of innovators across Africa, Asia and Latin America, it is becoming the accelerant.

About the author

Melissa Linares, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner specializing in stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She is a 2026 graduate of the Cornell Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program and was a fellow of the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets. She was president and co-founder of the Executive Nurse Leadership Network and co-chair of the Cornell Emerging Markets Institute Club. She is also the founder of Lina Concierge MedSpa.