Rwanda Faces Growing Food Gap as Imports Soar, Officials Say
Rwanda has made progress in agriculture in recent years, but the country is still far from achieving food (…)
Rwanda has launched a trial of an artificial intelligence-powered application designed to help doctors diagnose patients faster and choose appropriate medications more quickly, officials said.
The pilot is part of a project called Horizon 1000, a partnership between the Rwandan government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and OpenAI. The initiative is currently being tested in Rwanda and could expand to other African countries if it proves successful.
The project aims to deploy the technology in 1,000 health facilities across Africa by 2028, according to officials.
Andrew Muhire, the Ministry of Health’s technology director, told RFI that the program has been tested for two years in nearly 50 Rwandan health facilities. He said the investment is intended to support medical professionals, not replace them.
“The Gates Foundation and OpenAI have invested $50 billion,” Muhire said. “This project aims to speed up and improve the delivery of health services, but it does not replace the decision a human doctor makes.”
The application listens as a patient describes symptoms, records the information, and then helps clinicians make rapid treatment decisions, similar to the analysis a doctor would conduct. It is also designed to identify warning signs that require urgent care, allowing patients to receive advanced treatment without first trying basic medications.
The technology could help address Rwanda’s shortage of healthcare workers. Currently, one doctor treats roughly 1,000 patients, while the World Health Organization recommends four doctors per 1,000 patients.
The app can operate without internet access, a key feature for rural clinics where connectivity is often unreliable. However, officials acknowledge a challenge: the application is currently in English, while about 75% of Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda. Efforts are underway to adapt the system so it can understand patients describing symptoms in their native language.
The Horizon 1000 pilot follows Rwanda’s April 2023 approval of a five-year national policy to accelerate AI adoption. A government analysis estimated that $76.5 million in investment is needed to integrate AI across multiple sectors and boost its contribution to economic development.
Rwanda has made progress in agriculture in recent years, but the country is still far from achieving food (…)
Rwanda’s financial landscape took a significant step toward full digital integration with the nationwide launch of (…)
Rwanda’s liberation struggle succeeded because of bravery and a strong sense of patriotism, the spokesperson of the (…)
Rwandans living in the Republic of Congo on Feb. 1 marked Rwanda’s National Heroes Day, with community leaders (…)
