By Jean-Pierre A.
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI have unveiled an initiative to apply AI technology to strengthen healthcare systems in Africa, amid a growing shortage of health workers across the continent.
The initiative, called Horizon 1000, is expected to support several countries in Africa, starting in Rwanda.
According to a blog post published by the Gates Foundation on Thursday, 22 January, over the next few years, the project implementers will collaborate with leaders in African countries as they pioneer the deployment of AI in health.
Together, the Gates Foundation and OpenAI are committing $50 million in funding, technology, and technical support to back their work. The goal is to reach 1,000 primary healthcare clinics and their surrounding communities by 2028.
“All over the world, AI, in the form of LLMs and machine learning models, are improving far more quickly than I first anticipated,” wrote Bill Gates in a blog post. “From science to education to customer service and more, AI tools are reshaping every facet of our lives.”
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI hope to use Artificial Intelligence technology to address the shortage of doctors on the continent.
“We have seen amazing successes in global health over the past 25 years: child mortality has been cut in half, and there are now real pathways to eliminating or controlling deadly diseases like polio, malaria, TB, and HIV,” read part of the blog post announcing the new initiative to address the health workers shortage on the continent.
“One stubborn problem that keeps slowing progress is the desperate shortage of health care workers in poorer parts of the world,” said the tycoon-turned-philanthropist, who is interested in global health.
According to Bill Gates, in Sub-Saharan Africa, which suffers from the world’s highest child mortality rate, there is a shortfall of nearly 6 million health care workers.
“A gap so large that even the most aggressive hiring and training efforts can’t close it in the foreseeable future,” said Bill Gates.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa faces a projected shortage of 6.1 million health workers by 2030. Of the total shortage of health workers, 87 percent (or 5.3 million) of the deficit is specifically for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and dentists.
Rwanda is at the forefront
Rwanda has been cited as one of the countries using AI to address the health worker shortage and provide high-quality medical services. Rwanda currently has only one health care worker per 1,000 people, far below the WHO recommendation of about four per 1,000.
It would take 180 years for that gap to close at the current pace of progress.
The country’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, recently announced the launch of an AI-powered Health Intelligence Center in the capital, Kigali, to help ensure limited health care resources are being well used.
Now, the Horizon 1000 initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of AI tools across primary care clinics, within communities, and in people’s homes. These AI tools will support health workers, not replace them,noted Bill Gates.
“In poorer countries with enormous health worker shortages and a lack of health systems infrastructure, AI can be a game changer in expanding access to quality care,” said Bill Gates. “I believe this partnership with OpenAI, governments, innovators, and health workers in Sub-Saharan Africa is a step toward the type of AI we need more of.”
The philanthropist is inviting others working on AI to think about how they can put “these massively” powerful tools to the best possible use.
