{"id":430624,"date":"2026-01-22T19:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430624\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:43:08","slug":"rwanda-to-test-ai-powered-technology-in-clinics-to-improve-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430624\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda to test AI-powered technology in clinics to improve health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) \u2014 Rwanda<\/a> will test technology powered by artificial intelligence<\/a> in more than 50 health clinics as part of a new initiative by the Gates Foundation to support 1,000 clinics across Africa with the aim to improve health care services.<\/p>\n

The technology is intended to strengthen rather than replace clinical judgment, while improving efficiency within an already stretched health system, Andrew Muhire, a senior official with Rwanda\u2019s Ministry of Health, told The Associated Press on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Rwanda now has one health care worker for 1,000 patients \u2014 far from the globally recommended ratio of 4:1,000.<\/p>\n

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI on Wednesday launched a new initiative dubbed Horizons1000, with joint funding of $50 million over two years. Bill Gates<\/a> said the initiative will help close the health inequality gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn poorer countries with enormous health worker shortages and a lack of health systems infrastructure, AI can be a game changer in expanding access to quality care,\u201d Gates said in a blog post on the launch.<\/p>\n

Muhire described it as a \u201ctransformative opportunity\u201d that will improve citizens\u2019 access to health care, \u201creduce administrative burden\u201d and help medical professionals make \u201cmore accurate and timely decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, digital experts are worried about AI technology using the English language, which is not widely spoken in Rwanda. <\/p>\n

Audace Niyonkuru, CEO of AI and open data company Digital Umuganda, told the AP that efforts are underway to develop AI technologies in Kinyarwanda, the language spoken by about 75% of Rwanda\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeploying AI technologies that do not operate in Kinyarwanda would pose a serious barrier to effective care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) \u2014 Rwanda will test technology powered by artificial intelligence in more than 50 health clinics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[225471,254,64,63,225472,19415,19212,154584,482,137,508,500,12763,87107,224294,105,1346],"class_list":["post-430624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-andrew-muhire","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation","tag-bill-gates","tag-diversity","tag-equity-and-inclusion","tag-general-news","tag-health","tag-health-care-industry","tag-healthcare","tag-medical-technology","tag-rwanda","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-technology","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}