Africa: Kenya’s health system is receiving a boost from an international health partnership that combines AI technology and local contextual knowledge. A group of healthcare leaders convened in Nairobi to collaborate on improving critical health outcomes and enhancing program performance.
The roundtable was named “Technology-Enabled Health Systems Strengthening” and was attended by high-ranking government officials, donors, and private-sector healthcare stakeholders in Kenya. The participants included the Kenya Ministry of Health, Digital Directorate, Kenya Council of Governors, Kenya Healthcare Federation, Kenya Red Cross, AMREF, Palladium, PS Kenya, and LVCT Health.
Bernard Langat, the Division Head at the Directorate of Health Informatics in the Ministry of Health, summarised that, “The role of government is to provide an enabling environment where other partners can provide health system strengthening solutions such as digital health and AI. The government is always willing to listen, and emphasis is placed on, when one has a good idea, start and perfection will come along the way.”
The sector faces challenges such as inadequate funding, limited resources, human resource shortages, rising medical costs, and regulatory challenges. Although HIV prevalence, new infections, and AIDS-related mortality have declined, new infections remain a challenge in key populations and among adolescent girls and young women. Kenya has a high TB and TB/HIV prevalence, contributing more than 85 percent to the global TB burden. While TB case detection improved in FY21/22, a significant proportion of TB cases (32 percent) were still lost.
Vantage Health Technologies, a part of the BroadReach Group, partnered with Africa Health Business, a healthcare consultancy based in Africa, to host a session for leaders to interact and form partnerships. They are collaborating on a comprehensive training and skill-building program to equip local healthcare providers with the latest medical knowledge and technical expertise.
During this important session, three key objectives were discussed. The first objective was to advance technology solutions by emphasizing the use of AI-driven, data-centric, and technology-enabled solutions to tackle healthcare challenges. The second objective was to work towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030, with a particular focus on Kenya, to ensure that everyone has equal access to quality healthcare. The third objective was to establish transformative partnerships that could be scaled beyond Kenya to other countries facing similar healthcare challenges.
Kenya Healthcare Federation Chairperson, Dr. Gakombe Kanyenje Karangaita stated that, “It is impossible to achieve the UHC dream unless all health system building blocks work together cohesively. AI will be critical to improving the connectedness of payers and providers that will have an overall positive impact on the health system.”
Senior Program Advisor for Council of Governors Kenya (CoG), Meboh Abuor said that, “We need to know how to sustainably exploit digital space for the benefit of the patient and the healthcare provider. There is an urgent need for AI-driven capacity building for the Community Health Promoters (CHPs) with a focus on access, awareness, and affordability.”
Public Health Specialist, the representative of Kenya Red Cross, Mohamed Mohamud commented that, “Technology should be tailored to help and impact fragile health systems and ensure the population benefits. There should be an emphasis on seeing impact and sustainability of digital health solutions in the communities of the people who really need it.”
“We must embrace an ecosystem approach to facilitate the integration and sustainable adoption of digital health and AI within our existing healthcare infrastructure in Kenya. It’s imperative that African-led solutions, driven by the expertise in Africa, pave the way for a healthier Africa,” Executive Chairman of Africa Health Business (AHB), Dr. Amit Thakker remarked.
“AHB and Vantage Health Technologies have established a transformative partnership to address cross-cutting challenges in the Kenya health system. This partnership looks forward to collaborating with the ecosystem and showing that AI-powered Healthcare technologies can contribute to the building blocks of UHC in Kenya and accelerate its achievement. We strongly believe in forging meaningful public and private partnerships to enable access to good health so all Kenyans can flourish,” Paul Bhuhi, Managing Director of Vantage Health Technologies added.
Vantage offers healthcare professionals AI-powered solutions for data management, patient care, and real-time communication in the treatment of HIV, TB, malaria, and other related diseases. Meanwhile, AHB provides market insights and promotes stakeholder engagement across both the public and private sectors.
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