This is The Yuan’s first global debate to mark the 110th birthday of Alan Turing, the pioneering father of AI.
In light of Africa’s health tech expansion, biochemist Oladimeji Ewumi shares his insights and expertise on the benefits and drawbacks of open medical datasets in Africa’s digital health terrain.
The Yuan
By Oladimeji Ewumi
Jul 01, 2022, Image courtesy of and under license from Shutterstock.com
LAGOS, NIGERIA
Structure of the publication
- Introduction
- Weighing pros and cons
- Open medical datasets: Africa’s way to go
Africa’s digital health technology space is thriving and growing rapidly, with increased access to mobile connectivity among its residents.
This opportunity has opened it up to new private players, to the point where top medical publications have dubbed Africa “the new breeding ground for digital health.” 1
The year 2020 saw a rapid and unusual 22 percent surge in innovation, the highest recorded year of growth in the history of African healthtech startups, 2 raising USD392 million in funding. 3
The two largest economies and tech hubs in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa, together account for 46 percent of the continent’s 1,276 digital health startups, followed by Kenya and Egypt.
Presently, 41 out of 54 countries in Africa have a digital health strategy.
However, of the 75 percent of African countries that have a digital health plan, only South Africa and Kenya have accessible healthcare data. 4
If founders and tech innovators must leverage every digital health opportunity for Africa and its populace, they must utilize sufficient health data at every point of care.
Presently, 41 out of 54 countries in Africa have a digital health strategy.
However, of the 75 percent of African countries that have a digital health plan, only South Africa and Kenya have accessible healthcare data. 4
However, Africa’s health tech expansion has been uneven, and the pandemic has exposed existing parts of the health divide.
While African countries generate a great deal of health data, such data are often closed, limited, and under-utilized.
Africa needs to create better open data frameworks and leverage multiple health data channels from various healthcare sources, including healthcare apps, health surveys, patient registries, electronic health records, administrative records, and clinical trials.
Africa needs to create better open data frameworks and leverage multiple health data channels from various healthcare sources, including healthcare apps, health surveys, patient registries, electronic health records, administrative records, and clinical trials.
Data can potentially transform healthcare for the better by giving people the control to engage in the decisions that affect their lives.
However, for data to reach their full potential, they must be available to and be used by all.
All data should be available, preferably for free download, and should be machine-readable for easy processing and modification of each data element.
There is a significant open health data gap both globally and within Africa.
Nearly all datasets in sub-Saharan Africa — 373 out of 375 — are closed, and even when they are available online, they are often not published as open data.
In addition, there are few open data policies in place to support the opening up of key datasets, and those that do exist largely remain in the form of a synopsis.
Unless there is more investment in open data initiatives, good data management practices for digital health transformations will be short-lived.
To understand the overall situation, one must look at both the pros and the cons of a public medical dataset in the African digital health terrain.
Weighing pros and cons
An accessible repository of medical datasets can promote transparency, advance research, and help researchers worldwide find treatments for rare health conditions prevalent in Africa, such as sickle cell disease and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.5
It can also determine appropriate healthcare interventions, adverse side effects of some clinical interventions, target populations who need personalized care, and ways to make effective treatments accessible and affordable for all.
It can improve health outcomes, promote accountability, and answer questions such as how Africa’s genomic diversity impacts treatment.
If the datasets compiled are diverse and gathered from different communities, researchers will have a variety of niche areas to explore, e.g., how people or certain populations show differing symptoms, which health conditions are prevalent in some rural populations, and how to address issues of inequities in the African health system more effectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, people can better understand their specific health conditions, what care they should expect from healthcare professionals, and opportunities for home care using remote and telehealth technologies enabled by easy access to information,
e.g., an open-data digital health platform called MomConnect 6 guides women through each step of their pregnancy journey.
This free, dual-interactive platform that is available in 12 official South African languages connects about 80 percent of pregnant women in South Africa with the resources they need to navigate pregnancy and postnatal care.
On the flip side, because health data are now more readily available and accessible to all, they can easily be manipulated.
However, this is where AI can play a constructive role by detecting inaccuracies or discrepancies in health data.
Stakeholders can also require comparisons of data accuracy from sources before deliberating or making any significant decisions.
There are also risks related to privacy and confidentiality issues.
African governments can integrate the United States’ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant cyber security features to protect patient information, encrypt data where necessary, conduct annual security risk analyses to detect loopholes, and have a data breach response plan in place if a breach does occur.
There are also risks related to privacy and confidentiality issues. African governments can integrate the United States’ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant cyber security features to protect patient information, encrypt data where necessary, conduct annual security risk analyses to detect loopholes, and have a data breach response plan in place if a breach does occur.
Open medical datasets: Africa’s way to go
Though open datasets are not without cons, the benefits still outweigh the drawbacks.
African governments need to step up and make sure they are at the forefront of creating and sustaining open data initiatives, rather than depending solely on third parties.
First, they need cross-organizational collaboration to strengthen unrestricted data movement.
Governments, digital network providers, policy makers, and digital health innovators in Africa must work hand in hand to develop new scalable, expandable data infrastructure and make health data readily accessible, usable, and shareable for all.
Second, having so many open datasets without acting on insights to deliver results will hinder objectives.
This means that African governments must take a proactive approach and act on insights from open datasets to make healthcare services accessible.
If Africa is amassing health data but then locking it away, those who have access will be the only ones who can innovate, thereby excluding valuable contributions from global clinicians, researchers, health system experts, and policymakers.
A collaboration of African expertise with the best brains in the rest of the world is the way to go if Africa is to truly live up to its latest accolade as “the new breeding ground for digital health.”
In the same way that oil was the fuel that drove the economic growth of the 20th century, data will be the catalyst for advancing digital health reforms across various health systems, including Africa.
However, unlike oil, open data is not just a byproduct, but is central to healthcare.
In the same way that oil was the fuel that drove the economic growth of the 20th century, data will be the catalyst for advancing digital health reforms across various health systems, including Africa.
However, unlike oil, open data is not just a byproduct, but is central to healthcare.
References:
1. Holst, C., et al. (2020). Sub-Saharan Africa — the new breeding ground for global digital health. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30027-3/fulltext
2. Kazeem, Y., et al. (2022). Health tech companies in Africa were founded in droves amidst the pandemic. What are companies doing and where? https://www.salientadvisory.com/2022/03/14/health-tech-companies-in-africa-were-founded-in-droves-amidst-the-pandemic-what-are-companies-doing-and-where/
3. Quadri, S. (2022). The Next Wave: Can health tech prepare Africa for another global health crisis? https://techcabal.com/2022/04/25/the-next-wave-can-healthtech-prepare-africa-for-another-global-health-crisis/
4. General region highlights and findings. (2017). https://opendatabarometer.org/4thedition/regional-snapshot/sub-saharan-africa/
5. Luzzatto, L., et al. (2021). Treating Rare Diseases in Africa: The Drugs Exists but the Need is Unmet https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8784510/
6. Jahan, R., et al. (2020). Impact of MomConnect Program in South Africa: A Narrative Review. https://www.himss.org/resources/impact-momconnect-program-south-africa-narrative-review
Originally published at https://www.the-yuan.com.
About the author
Oladimeji Ewumi
Oladimeji Ewumi is a freelance health writer and biochemist. He has extensive experience helping brands in the healthcare, biotech, wellness, and medical AI sectors communicate effectively with their target audiences.
Most of Oladimeji’s works in healthcare AI ranked as featured snippets on Google. He has written for major publications like MDLinx, Thrive Global (VIP), Dataconomy Media GmbH, The Yuan, YOGA + Life® Magazines, and under30CEO.
