Researchers in Africa are using AI to fill the global health care gap

From rural Kenya to northern Nigeria, artificial intelligence is turning smartphones into medical laboratories

Originally published on Global Voices

A child being given an injection. Image by Kwameghana via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed).

By Chukwudi Anthony Okolue

In 2024, a 28-year-old maize farmer in Siaya County, western Kenya, walked into a small public clinic complaining of a fever. Ten years ago, he would have waited days — sometimes weeks — for a malaria, typhoid, or dengue diagnosis.