Global Digital Health Forum 2024

In healthcare, innovation alone isn’t enough. For AI to truly transform health outcomes, it must be integrated into systems and strategies that address the root causes of inequity. This session will focus on turning cutting-edge AI technologies into tangible benefits for communities that need them most.

Panelists will explore practical, field-tested approaches to deploying AI in health systems—looking at how these technologies are being used to support frontline health workers, improve data accessibility, and inform policy decisions. We’ll discuss the nuances of applying AI in settings where resources are limited and the stakes are high, emphasizing the importance of community-driven design and cross-sector collaboration.

We will unpack what it takes to create innovative, sustainable, and scalable AI solutions and offer insights on how to collaborate effectively and leverage AI for inclusive health outcomes.

Digitizing community-based testing empowers community health workers (CHWs) to offer near-patient screening while staying informed of the latest clinical guidelines and improving data management, leading to better patient care and stronger surveillance. Additionally, digitization allows for the integration of separate, disease-specific workflows into a unified screening system by consolidating overlapping steps and data entry needs.

To evaluate the feasibility, benefits, and challenges of this approach, FIND has collaborated with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to develop and assess digital, integrated disease screening methods.

In Kenya, JKUAT developed a clinical decision support algorithm for several diseases with similar symptoms including malaria, pneumonia, TB, typhoid, malnutrition and piloted as well as evaluated its use by clinicians in Kilifi and Kisumu counties; the tool will undergo further refinement for use by CHWs.

In Rwanda, RBC, worked with CHWs who used a digital integrated disease screening approach to screen almost 1400 people through their mobile phones at a community level for four core integrated diseases including malaria, pneumonia, TB and diarrheal diseases. In this session, we’ll share insights from these projects for the very first time.