In March 2023, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched its Digital Transformation Strategy, in which it emphasised the potential of digital health solutions to improve public health outcomes on the continent by enhancing disease surveillance and response, improving healthcare delivery, and supporting sustainable development.While the document highlighted the potential of digital health solutions to improve health outcomes in Africa, artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing long-term goals into short-term reality. The potential impact AI could have on Africa’s healthcare sectors is already being played out in the rapid growth and expansion of some forward-thinking innovations and…
Paul Adepoju
Paul Adepoju
Paul Adepoju is a Nigeria-based freelance journalist, scientist, academic, and author. He covers science, health, tech and development in Africa for leading local and international media outlets. He’s also the founder of healthnews.ng. He is completing a doctorate in cell biology and genetics and holds several reporting awards.
Nigeria: the long haul The West African country’s frontline healthcare workers have gained a wealth of experience with Lassa fever and other pandemics, so it’s about getting on with the job Widely referred to as Dr Biddie among his peers and other healthcare workers, Ayodele Bidemi knows the emergency department of Nigeria’s first teaching hospital, the University College Hospital Ibadan, inside out. He has spent nearly two decades in the tertiary health facility as a student, house officer and clinical resident, but COVID-19 has been nothing like anything else he and his colleagues at the unit have had to deal…
SDG 3: healthy lives and wellbeing for all Applying global SDG targets to Africa is counterproductive and fails to recognise the continent’s actual achievements By Paul Adepoju In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 70/1, which contained its agenda for 2030, especially the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each of the 17 SDGs included goals within a goal – all of which are expected to be achieved by 2030. SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages) aims to achieve these by tackling maternal and infant mortality, ending epidemics and controlling substance abuse. There…
