At the CPHIA meeting in Durban, self-reliance was the central theme. Landry Dongmo Tsague, inaugural director of Africa CDC’s Centre for Primary Health Care, argued that artificial intelligence and other digital tools can play a key role in strengthening health systems and protecting Africa’s 1.4 billion people. Africa CDC frames AI as part of a broader digital transformation aligned with the African Union’s continental AI strategy.
Africa CDC intends two main levels of AI deployment. Internally, AI and automation will streamline planning, reporting, finance, procurement and monitoring while strengthening a central disease-intelligence repository. Externally, digital tools will support member states at community and primary-care sites where most outbreaks start. Event-based surveillance can become faster and more precise, helping detect signals earlier, transmit data quickly and trigger rapid responses. Rwanda’s National Health Intelligence Centre was cited as an operational example: AI there helps track disease outbreaks and maternal emergencies, supports telemedicine and enables real-time decision-making.
Data ownership and protection are core issues. The African Union already has a continental data-policy framework and Africa CDC is drafting a Continental Health Data Governance Framework to define ethical collection, storage and use and to guarantee African ownership and respect for sovereignty. Algorithm bias is a known problem because many models are trained on data from wealthier regions; the proposed solution is to develop algorithms trained on African data. To do this, Africa CDC is working with member states, experts and the private sector to build guidelines, strengthen data infrastructure and collect accurate, timely and representative data. Long-term, the goal is for African data to remain in Africa and benefit African populations.
Tsague warned that digital tools cannot add value where basic infrastructure is missing: facilities need electricity, water, staff and functioning primary health care. Financing is also critical: with declining donor funds, self-reliance requires domestic financing. Africa CDC’s Green Book: Reimagining Health Financing in the New Era highlights three pillars:
- Increase domestic investment
- Promote innovative financing
- Ensure good governance
Primary health care remains the foundation of health security, and Africa CDC’s Centre for Primary Health Care is supporting countries to redesign systems around accessibility, equity and innovation. The interview was edited for length and clarity and the piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
Difficult words
- self-reliance — ability to meet needs without external help
- deployment — the act of putting a system into use
- surveillance — continuous monitoring to detect disease and events
- sovereignty — authority and control of a state over itself
- bias — systematic error that favors some groups
- infrastructure — essential physical systems like water and electricity
- governance — systems and rules that manage public services
- financing — arranging and providing money for public services
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How could training algorithms on African data change the speed and accuracy of outbreak detection? Give reasons from the article.
- What practical challenges might countries face when trying to keep health data in Africa, and how could they address them?
- Do you think increasing domestic financing is realistic for better health systems? Explain with at least two reasons linked to the article.
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