peterBusiness Reporter
LOW and middle-income countries could soon leapfrog high-income countries in their adoption of new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies in health services, suggests a report led by the Novartis Foundation and Microsoft.
The report notes that technologies such as mobile phone trading platforms, e-banking, e-commerce, and even blockchain applications have often been adopted faster and more comprehensively in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa has led the world in technology uptake before. Zimbabwe and Kenya, for instance, are among the top adopters of mobile banking, which has been picked up across Africa and hopes are that a similar trend could be spread to enhance health services. Adoption of health technologies is likely to follow the same trend, with digital transformation accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, says the report.
Already Sub-Saharan Africa currently represents about 12 percent of the global population but faces 25 percent of the world’s disease burden, while housing only three percent of the world’s health workers. This boosts the case for investment in supportive AI tools, which can help trim costs and assist nurses and community health workers diagnose and treat illnesses traditionally seen by doctors, says the report.
It notes that investment in data and AI will be a key tool driving African health system improvements during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. African countries have been tipped to be the fastest adopters due to lack of legacy systems, but have the most to lose if governments do not invest now.
According to the report, a third of the adult population of Rwanda is already using a digital health consulting service, while an AI-enabled diagnostic mobile app first rolled out in Tanzania now has 800,000 downloads. Rwanda, for instance, is now arguably the most digitally connected health system in Africa, with its virtual consulting service surging past two million users – one-third of the adult population as at May 2020.
Reduced contact between patients and health providers due to social distancing is thus, leading to major growth in technologies such as AI-enabled diagnostics as more people seek digital health care solutions – presenting a tremendous opportunity for countries to integrate data and AI into their health systems.
“Digital technology and AI are essential enablers to re-engineer health systems from being reactive to proactive, predictive, and even preventive,” said Dr Ann Aerts, head of the Novartis Foundation and co-chair of the Broadband Commission Working Group on Digital and AI in Health, which crafted the report. The Commission was established in 2010 by the International Telecommunication Union and UNESCO to expand broadband access as to accelerate progress towards national and international development targets.
“We have to develop a sustainable ecosystem for AI in health in the countries where it is most desperately needed,” Dr Aerts said.
“This has to happen while ensuring fairness and access for all. As health systems build back after the pandemic, technological innovation has to be a core part of the agenda.”
Paul Mitchell of Microsoft, who also co-chaired the Working Group, said AI can have a big impact not just in lower-income countries, but across all health systems.
“It’s clear Covid-19 is driving massive change in the use of technology in health – we are seeing in a few months what I would have expected normally to take years, if not decades.”
Governments should, therefore, identify and test innovative ways to finance AI in health solutions, the report says. To ensure financial accessibility in the long run for everyone, national reimbursement of digital and AI-enabled health services is key.
Online Reporter