The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has begun developing a mid- to long-term strategy to overhaul its infectious disease response, quarantine, and health management systems using artificial intelligence (AI). The plan aims to boost public health response capabilities by building a disease control framework that combines AI with national health data, spanning infectious disease forecasting, epidemiological investigation, and quarantine systems.
The KDCA said Friday that it launched the "Disease Control AI Transformation (AX) Committee" and held its first meeting to begin work on the "Mid- to Long-Term Disease Control AX Strategy (2027–2031)."
The committee comprises a total of 16 members, chaired by KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan, including five government members and 11 private- and public-sector experts in AI and big data, healthcare, and data utilization. The committee is tasked with devising strategies for AI use in disease control, identifying projects that link data, policy, and research and development (R&D), and deliberating on legal and institutional improvements and phased implementation plans.
The KDCA has until now pursued AI projects centered on individual departments, but determined that it lacked a comprehensive strategy at the agency level. Accordingly, after establishing the "Disease Control AI Innovation Task Force" in October last year, it created a dedicated organization, the "Disease Control AI Officer," in March this year and has been working to formulate an AI transformation strategy.
The KDCA is also accelerating its use of AI to advance infectious disease response, quarantine, and health management services. It is currently developing an AI-based infectious disease response solution, a quarantine chatbot, and an AI epidemiological investigation and risk assessment system through the Ministry of Science and ICT's public AX project. It is also testing an AI-based quarantine system for overseas travelers, a personalized health management service using national health survey data, and an AI solution that analyzes infectious disease misinformation in real time.
The KDCA plans to build an integrated platform called "Disease Data ON" by 2029, linking national vaccinations, notifiable infectious disease reporting, chronic diseases, health hazard information, and clinical and genomic data. Through this, it intends to standardize scattered disease control data and lay a data foundation that AI can utilize.
"Combining the vast data accumulated by the KDCA with AI is a core asset for proactively responding to future infectious diseases and various health crises," KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan stressed. "We will break down the barriers of data scattered across ministries and agencies and realize AI-based public health innovation."
