Artificial Intelligence for Public Health Surveillance in Africa: Applications and Opportunities
It addresses public health surveillance challenges in Africa, such as limited resources and infrastructure, but is incremental as it reviews existing applications and opportunities without introducing new methods or data.
This paper investigates the applications of artificial intelligence in public health surveillance in Africa, highlighting its potential to improve disease detection accuracy and timeliness, optimize resource allocation, and support targeted interventions, while identifying barriers to adoption and proposing recommendations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various fields, including public health surveillance. In Africa, where health systems frequently encounter challenges such as limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, failed health information systems and a shortage of skilled health professionals, AI offers a transformative opportunity. This paper investigates the applications of AI in public health surveillance across the continent, presenting successful case studies and examining the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of implementing AI technologies in African healthcare settings. Our paper highlights AI's potential to enhance disease monitoring and health outcomes, and support effective public health interventions. The findings presented in the paper demonstrate that AI can significantly improve the accuracy and timeliness of disease detection and prediction, optimize resource allocation, and facilitate targeted public health strategies. Additionally, our paper identified key barriers to the widespread adoption of AI in African public health systems and proposed actionable recommendations to overcome these challenges.