The Gates Foundation and OpenAI announced a $50 million “pilot” on Wednesday to “advance AI capabilities for health” in Africa. Horizon 1000 promises “funding, technology, and technical support” to roll out AI solutions to 1,000 African primary healthcare clinics by 2028.
“AI is going to be a scientific marvel no matter what, but for it to be a societal marvel, we’ve got to figure out ways that we use this incredible technology to improve people’s lives,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, in a media release.
“The goal is to make [health care] much higher quality, and if possible, twice as efficient as it is today – taking away the paperwork, organising resources so the patient knows what is available and when to come for their appointments,” Gates Foundation CEO Bill Gates told a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Wednesday.
The pilot will start in Rwanda, and later branch out to Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, Gates added.
Rwanda is already exploring the use of AI to help health workers with disease diagnosis, relieve them of onerous administrative tasks, and model the trajectory of diseases.
Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s Minister of Information, Communication and Technology and Innovation, told the WEF that her country has been working on technological solutions for its “pain points” for over two decades.
As a start, the country has rolled out internet access to around 97% of its population – a significant achievement in a country where most people live in rural areas.
It is currently building “some of the foundational digital infrastructure that is enabling and powering [technological] advancements,” said Ingabire.
One of Rwanda’s aims is to use AI to create “decision-support tools” for its 60,000-plus community health workers (CHW) who provide primary healthcare to communities across the country.
As around 70% of the cases CHW deal with every year are malaria, the country wants an AI tool to help them to improve diagnosis and to better anticipate when and where to expect malaria cases, said Ingabire.
