Boosting AI-for-health in Africa and beyond: Filling the Health Technology Assessment gap

The use of Ar+ficial Intelligence (AI) for health is prolifera+ng globally at an incredible rate. While AI interven+ons have transforma+ve poten+al if they are developed and deployed responsibly and equitably, they also have the poten+al to waste resources, exploit the vulnerable and the poor, and further exacerbate inequity. My research project focuses on a cri+cal gap and need: evidencebased Health Technology Assessment (HTA) tools. Both high-income and low-income countries struggle to make decisions about how to deploy AI for health without such tools, but the challenge is especially acute in Africa, where resources for HTA are very limited. Such tools therefore need to be not only high-quality but also affordable to use. My project will also create new frameworks for investment and decision-making which embed these new HTA tools and are supported by good implementa+on science and low-cost and equitable data infrastructures. Key case applica+ons will be maternal and child mortality, malaria elimina+on, access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance in a One Health context, and precision public health. The output will be an improved frameworkfor prioritizing high-value uses of AI in health over low-value uses, and quicker access across Africa and beyond to affordable high-quality and trustworthy AI-based health interventions.