{"id":258457,"date":"2026-01-22T19:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258457\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:04:07","slug":"rwanda-to-test-ai-powered-technology-in-clinics-to-improve-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258457\/","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":258458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[128433,218,128434,5873,7924,72933,1595,103,397,2690,396,61,60,22726,2783,127035,80,268],"class_list":["post-258457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-andrew-muhire","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation","tag-bill-gates","tag-diversity","tag-equity-and-inclusion","tag-general-news","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-care-industry","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medical-technology","tag-rwanda","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-technology","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}