Experts urge tech adoption to strengthen Africa's health systems

Nairobi: The resilience of Africa's public health systems depends on the rapid adoption of digital tools like artificial intelligence, drones, and data analytics to enhance disease surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment, experts said on Tuesday.

Caroline Kisia, Africa director for Project ECHO, an international healthcare training and mentoring platform, said that new technologies and innovations are crucial to revamping health systems on the continent amid perennial challenges like underfunding and skills gaps.

"Technological platforms that can support a nurse, doctor, or midwife on the frontlines to help improve service delivery should be adopted at scale across the continent," Kisia said at a media roundtable in Nairobi, which served as a precursor to the World Health Summit Regional Meeting to be held in the Kenyan capital from April 27 to 29.

Jennifer Njuhigu, a program officer at the Kenya National Public Health Institute, said technology is key to helping African policymakers identify gaps in disease prevention, treatment, and management.

According to Njuhigu, virtual learning has been pivotal in enhancing the capacity of frontline healthcare workers in Africa to respond to disease outbreaks linked to environmental pollution.

Gunturu Revathi, head of clinical microbiology at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, said that advanced technologies are essential to enhancing the detection of disease-causing pathogens across the continent and averting fatalities.

Revathi stressed that scaling up telemedicine, virtual training, and mentorship for health care workers in Africa will strengthen responses to diseases and endemic public health threats like antimicrobial resistance.