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

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for health is proliferating globally at an incredible rate. While AI interventions have transformative potential if they are developed and deployed responsibly and equitably, they also have the potential to waste resources, exploit the vulnerable and the poor, and further exacerbate inequity. My research project focuses on a critical gap and need: evidence-based 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 implementation science and low-cost and equitable data infrastructures. Key case applications will be maternal and child mortality, malaria elimination, access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance in a One Health context, and precision public health. The output will be an improved framework for 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.