By Folasade Akpan
Health experts have emphasised the critical role of technological advancement, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), in accelerating Nigeria’s drive toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
They made the emphasis in Abuja during a panel session on “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Primary Healthcare in Nigeria” at the ongoing Afrihealth Conferences and Exhibitions organised by Afrihealth Development Foundation and Africa Hub for Innovation and Development.
Dr Kunle Kakanfo, Founder, Artificial Intelligence for Social Impact Development (AI4SID), said Nigeria must harness the opportunities that AI offers to strengthen its fragile health system.
According to him, AI is already improving clinical decision-making globally, and Nigeria can benefit from similar interventions.
“When you look at it from different angles, we’re seeing AI being used in clinical decision support with a lot of chatbots doing triage and helping people identify what their basic symptoms are, also helping healthcare workers to know which ailment is more important to treat,” he said.
Kakanfo said AI was also enabling task-shifting, freeing highly-skilled health workers to handle more complex cases.
“We’re seeing AI being used for resource planning. AI models are being used for predictive analysis to forecast outbreaks, predict diseases and support surveillance.
“With the inefficiencies we have within our healthcare system, we can bring in AI as a leapfrog innovation to fast-track or create more efficiencies,” he added.
He outlined areas of potential impact, including diagnostics and screening, telehealth, epidemic detection, health facility management, financing, resource allocation and health literacy.
The Country Director, Palladium Data. FI Project, Dr Otse Ogorry, said regulation was central to ensuring safe and ethical use of AI in healthcare.
According to him, Nigeria does not yet have a national framework guiding AI deployment.
“So, it’s important for the government to look at this, to have a regulation for AI so that we set ethical guardrails and ensure good use of AI in Nigeria.
“We could look at regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection document as a starting point and adapt it.
“We also have the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation and the National Data Use Act which can be leveraged for our AI strategy and laws,” he said.
For Mr Abdulhamid Yahaya, Deputy Director for Global Health Informatics, eHealth Africa, government must create an enabling environment for AI to thrive.
“On the AI readiness index, Nigeria is scoring very low currently.
“Even though discourse is low now based on infrastructural, governance and capacity readiness, I feel we are trending in the right direction,” he said.
Yahaya said AI remained the most viable path for Nigeria to maximise its overstretched health workforce.
“Nigeria is one of the few countries that are overburdened. Community health workers are working with limited tools and resources, yet Nigeria has one of the highest patient loads.
“So how can you scale? Use AI technology. It helps you take a simple use case that works and multiply it thousands, millions of times,” he added.
He warned that without technology, Nigeria may not meet its UHC targets.
“If we ignore AI and ignore technology, then I don’t see any way we are going to meet those UHC targets,” he said.
Director of Programmes at Nigeria Health Watch, Dr Kemisola Agbaoye, however, raised concerns about readiness.
“There’s a lot to consider for AI to become a reality in Nigeria. Basic data is key. I can’t effectively build a realistic AI system for healthcare without adequate data,” she said.
Agbaoye identified data quality, infrastructure gaps, workforce skills and lack of trust as major barriers.
“When I think about primary healthcare workers in rural areas who have absolutely no impression of what AI is or how it can help them, it becomes clear that skills are a major issue.
“When you start to engage communities and tell them their community health extension worker will rely on AI tools, there is a lot of trust that needs to be built,” she said.
She stressed, however, that many AI-driven health solutions were emerging, showing promise for wider adoption in the near future.
“There’s a lot happening. There are many case studies and solutions already being developed. Are we ready for AI in healthcare? I would say no, not yet, but we are making progress,” she added. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru
