AI4D-FCDO Innovation: Scaling and sustaining AI solutions to improve sexual, reproductive and maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa

 

In sub-Saharan Africa, indicators for maternal, sexual and reproductive health continue to lag other health indicators. For example, the continent is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal’s target of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to be a transformative tool in tackling the continent’s ongoing maternal, sexual and reproductive health challenges. However, significant concerns remain about the potential harms and risks of using AI in this sector.

IDRC supported the establishment of a Hub for Artificial Intelligence in Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health in sub-Saharan Africa, which, among other things, has funded development of a tool for predicting miscarriages among women in Uganda. In this new project, the hub seeks to scale a subset of promising AI innovations for maternal, sexual and reproductive health from the previous project. The new project will also strengthen the capacity of AI innovators to create solutions for local maternal, sexual and reproductive health priorities based on large datasets. By the end of the project, the project teams aim to have AI solutions scaled in five African countries and four new AI innovations developed through an open innovation competition.

IDRC is supporting a five-year partnership, called Artificial Intelligence for Development: Responsible AI, Empowering People, with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to support policy, innovations and expanded leadership to spur safe and responsible AI development in Africa and beyond. The vision of the partnership is to support an inclusive, responsible AI ecosystem that improves quality of life for all.