Peer-reviewed article
Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and mHealth: The Frontiers of the Prevention of Violence Against Children
Xanthe Hunt, Mark Tomlinson, Siham Sikander, Sarah Skeen, Marguerite Marlow et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how artificial intelligence, big data, and mobile health (mHealth) technologies could be used to prevent violence against children at scale, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The authors link potential technological approaches to the WHO's INSPIRE strategies for violence prevention. They argue that while the potential is substantial, major challenges remain, including the need for reliable data on violence predictors, ethical safeguards, and substantial investment in infrastructure.
Key points
- At least half of all children worldwide experience violence annually, affecting approximately one billion children aged 2-17 years
- AI, machine learning, and big data have substantial potential for large-scale violence prevention, particularly in low- and middle-income countries
- There is a need for reliable, valid population and individual/family-level data on predictors of violence that could be integrated into routine health information systems
- Participatory and user-led approaches are essential to address privacy, profiling, and ethical concerns in AI-based violence prevention
- Substantial investment in technological infrastructure is required, especially in low- and middle-income countries
Limitations
This is a literature review and opinion piece that does not present empirical evidence from implemented interventions or their outcomes. The paper identifies potential and gaps rather than evaluating the effectiveness of any specific technology-based violence prevention programme.
Abstract
Violence against children is a global public health threat of considerable concern. At least half of all children worldwide experience violence every year; globally, the total number of children between the ages of 2 and 17 years old who have experienced violence in any given year, is one billion. Based on a review of the literature, we argue that there is substantial potential for AI (and associated machine learning and big data), and mHealth approaches to be utilised to prevent and address violence at a large scale. This potential is particularly marked in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), although whether it could translate into effective solutions at scale remains unclear. We discuss possible entry points for Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, and mHealth approaches to violence prevention, linking these to the World Health Organization’s seven INSPIRE strategies. However, such work should be approached with caution. We highlight clear directions for future work in technology-based and technology-enabled violence prevention. We argue that there is a need for good agent-based models at the level of entire cities where and when violence can occur, where local responses systems are. Yet, there is a need to develop common, reliable, and valid population and individual/family level data on predictors of violence. These indicators could be integrated into routine health or other information systems and become the basis of Al algorithms for violence prevention and response systems. Further, data on individual help-seeking behaviour, risk factors for child maltreatment, and other information which could help us to identify the parameters required to understand what causes violence and how it is responded to, are needed. To respond to ethical issues engendered by these kinds of interventions, there must be concerted, meaningful efforts to develop participatory and user-led work in the AI space, to ensure that the privacy and profiling concerns outlined above are addressed explicitly going forward. Finally, we make the case that developing AI and other technological infrastructure will require substantial investment, particularly in LMIC.