LAHORE: The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on Wednesday got a major multi-year grant from the Gates Foundation to establish the country’s first nationally-coordinated artificial intelligence (AI) hub.

The hub will focus on maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and will expand to address other critical development challenges facing Pakistan.

A statement on Wednesday said the National AI Hub will bring together two of Pakistan’s leading research universities, LUMS and the Aga Khan University (AKU) to address the critical challenge of MNCH. It said that LUMS will build on its longstanding expertise in AI, language technologies, gender and technology research, and digital public health innovation, while AKU will serve as a key technical and clinical partner, contributing to the development of large maternal health datasets, providing clinical expertise, and supporting evaluation and field testing of AI-enabled interventions across diverse care settings.

The AI Hub will enable the development and scaling of AI-driven healthcare solutions tailored to Pakistan’s underserved populations, using timely predictive analytics to strengthen prevention, early diagnosis, and continuity of care. It is designed to deliver impact at the national scale.

The hub will focus on maternal, newborn and child health

The hub will be led by Dr Maryam Mustafa of the Computer Science department at LUMS with Prof Fyezah Jehan, Chair of the Department of Paediatrics & Child Health at AKU, collaborating closely on clinical design and implementation. The hub will also convene government partners, clinicians, AI researchers, policymakers, and innovators to strengthen early diagnosis, clinical decision-making, referral pathways, and continuity of care for women and newborns nationwide.

Dr Mustafa said the hub was launched with maternal, newborn and child health due to the urgent need and because the opportunity for immediate impact was the greatest. She said, “Our vision is to build a nationally anchored, responsible AI platform, one that can grow over time to support multiple sectors where data-driven intelligence can strengthen public systems and improve lives across the country”.

Sharing her views, Ms Mubarik Imam stated that limited access to specialist expertise continues to drive preventable loss of life and poor health outcomes among women and children. AI could change that by democratising world-class medical knowledge for frontline healthcare workers from Astore to Ziarat, she added. She said the hub was built for impact, equipping researchers, clinicians and entrepreneurs to tackle Pakistan’s toughest challenges, starting with maternal, newborn, and child health, and creating scalable models for the Global South.

Pakistan’s maternal mortality rate currently stands at 186 deaths per 100,000 live births, driven by limited access to quality antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care; shortages of skilled health workers; weak referral systems; and delays in managing critical complications such as hemorrhage, eclampsia, and sepsis. These challenges are further compounded by language and literacy barriers, fragmented health data systems, and social and economic constraints that delay timely care.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026