Artificial Intelligence and Health in Africa

Abstract

As the application of artificial intelligence (AI) expands across various fields of practice including health its deployment, regulation, acceptability, preparedness challenges, and ethical concerns in Africa requires a critical look. The chapter's primary objective is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how AI can positively affect health outcomes in Africa. The authors explored the potential for AI to transform and improve healthcare in low-resource areas like Africa and reviewed the current state of how AI algorithms can be used to improve diagnostics, treatment, and disease monitoring, as well as how AI can help with pandemic preparedness. The chapter also highlights the challenges and ethical considerations that need to be addressed when deploying AI in Africa. The chapter concludes that AI is poised to assist countries in improving the quality of health service delivery through innovation using telemedicine-assisted approaches and that there is a need to deploy new technologies and share lessons and experiences among countries on the African continent to help improve healthcare in Africa.