Artificial intelligence for health security in Africa: Benefits, risks and opportunities

Artificial intelligence (AI) provides paradigm-shifting opportunities to accelerate epidemic preparedness and response and ensure health security. Such benefits may be particularly applicable to countries in Africa, which have to date struggled to meet compliance obligations under international health security frameworks. Here, we build on discussions that took place at the March 2024 Health Security Partnership for Africa workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to describe potential applications of AI-enabled approaches to accelerate activities throughout the preparedness ecosystem, with a particular focus on the rapid development and deployment of novel vaccines in support of the 100 Days Mission, focusing on Africa. We also consider the risks and barriers that may challenge successful deployment of AI for health security in African settings, and opportunities to elevate African leadership on governance and implementation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Epidemics
Published
2025-11-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2025.100870
Primary Topic
Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Artificial intelligence for health security in Africa: Benefits, risks and opportunities

Wilmot James, Amol Chaudhari, Neil George Cherian, Janan Janine Dietrich et al.
Epidemics
Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
article

Artificial intelligence for health security in Africa: Benefits, risks and opportunities

Wilmot James, Amol Chaudhari, Neil George Cherian, Janan Janine Dietrich, Molly Shapiro, Arminder Deol, J. Gabrielle Breugelmans, Nqobile Ndlovu, Claire J. Standley, Stefan Kloth, Nicaise Ndembi, Danny Scarponi, Laurent Moulin, Franz Schnetzinger, Geoffrey Otim, Andrew Hebbeler, Sabrina Chwalek, Sana Masmoudi
article en

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) provides paradigm-shifting opportunities to accelerate epidemic preparedness and response and ensure health security. Such benefits may be particularly applicable to countries in Africa, which have to date struggled to meet compliance obligations under international health security frameworks. Here, we build on discussions that took place at the March 2024 Health Security Partnership for Africa workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to describe potential applications of AI-enabled approaches to accelerate activities throughout the preparedness ecosystem, with a particular focus on the rapid development and deployment of novel vaccines in support of the 100 Days Mission, focusing on Africa. We also consider the risks and barriers that may challenge successful deployment of AI for health security in African settings, and opportunities to elevate African leadership on governance and implementation.

EpidemicsVol. 53
Georgetown University (US), University of the Witwatersrand (ZA), Robert Koch Institute (DE), Brown University (US), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (UG), Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ET), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (NO), Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. (United States) (US), Institut Pasteur de Tunis (TN), World Economic Forum (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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