[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"_apollo:default":3},{"Publication:cG9zdDoxMjc0":4,"ROOT_QUERY":22,"Bizzbar:cG9zdDoxNDcw":58},["null","__typename",5,"id",6,"title",7,"slug",8,"excerpt",9,"date",10,"publications",11],"Publication","cG9zdDoxMjc0","Health Sector AI Roundtable 2.0 Report","health-sector-ai-roundtable-2-0-report","","2025-01-06T10:43:25",["null","__typename",12,"audienceId",13,"banner",14,"content",20,"pdfFile",21,"publicationDate",21,"executiveSummary",21,"publicationTags",21],"Publication_Publications","12c8aed1bd",["null","__typename",15,"image",16,"title",7,"subtitle",19],"Publication_Publications_Banner",["null","__typename",17,"sourceUrl",18],"MediaItem","https:\u002F\u002Fblog.qhala.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F01\u002FDSC09829_resized.jpg","Health Sector AI Roundtable 2.0 deep-dives into Africa’s datasets, financing, and collaboration to build resilient, inclusive health systems accessible to all in the age of AI.","\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003Cstrong>Introduction\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to quality healthcare remains a major challenge in Africa. Achieving UHC requires strong multi-sectoral collaboration with levels of commitment and support from government, cooperating partners, health workers and other key stakeholders who are significantly contributing to the health system. .This 2.0 Health Sector AI Roundtable is a follow-up of our initial roundtable that was held on 18th July 2024 which underscored the crucial need for effective data collection and sharing. It also emphasized the importance of developing a strong culture and framework for exchanging information across sectors to implement essential health sector needs successfully. This 2.0 roundtable was a continuation of this conversation in a deep dive into Africa’s health sector datasets and financing in the age of AI. The goal is to bring all the key stakeholders to work together in establishing resilient, responsive, and inclusive health systems that are accessible to all, irrespective of socioeconomic or legal status, health condition, or any other factors. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocating for equitable quality of care for all is essential to achieving UHC. Taking a collaborative, patient-centered approach to accelerate health system changes that address challenges in financing, access, and health outcomes should be the focus of all nations in Africa. Kenya’s health insurance coverage stands at 20 percent, according to data from the Ministry of Health. This is unacceptably low as many Kenyans lack financial protection in the event of huge medical costs. Consequently, the World Bank estimates that one million Kenyans fall into poverty annually due to healthcare-related expenditures. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has been operational for two decades and has now been replaced by the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), anchored in the Social Health Insurance Act of 2023. This Act establishes a framework for managing social health insurance and creating the related Social Health Authority, for improving health outcomes and financial protection in line with the right to health and universal health coverage, for Kenyans. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting 1st October 2024, the NHIF officially transitioned to SHA, and as a result, all Kenyan citizens and their dependents are legally required to register as SHA members. Social Health Insurance (SHI) is widely used by countries attempting to move toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). While evidence suggests that SHI is a promising strategy for achieving UHC, low-income countries often struggle to implement and sustain SHI systems\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this roundtable, we examined the implementation of Kenya’s Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and gathered insights from key stakeholders on the role AI could play in enhancing health financing models. Our focus was on how AI can improve efficiency, transparency, and decision-making to support the successful roll-out of Kenya’s SHIF. We brought together key stakeholders from the Health sector, tech, startup, VC, public policy, MoH and private sector for a deep dive into the needed health sector datasets, health financing opportunities and challenges in Kenya\u002FAfrica in the age of AI.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The World Health Report 2010 indicated that it is difficult for countries to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) when they allocate less than 4-5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to health\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As countries have shifted to focusing on UHC as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030), they are expected to increase their investments in health to at least 5% of their GDP to realize this goal.  WHO has calculated that to attain UHC in low and middle-income countries by 2030, more than 50 percent of the additional healthcare spending in the coming years should be allocated to primary care, particularly to human resources, infrastructure, and equipment\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Objectives\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cb>Health Sector Data and Datasets Objectives\u003C\u002Fb>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explore additional strategies for building a data warehouse that hosts community-driven datasets for the health sector.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uncover ways in which a public platform can be created to showcase AI models in the health sector.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cb>Health Financing Objectives\u003C\u002Fb>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explore the potential role of AI in establishing resilient, responsive, and inclusive health systems, ensuring access for all regardless of socioeconomic status, legal standing, health condition, or other factors, while enhancing system adaptability and sustainability.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examine the role of AI in shaping efficient health financing policies that respond to unmet healthcare needs, optimize resource allocation, and eliminate financial barriers to access, supporting the successful implementation and scalability of Kenya’s SHIF.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expected Outcomes\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifying AI-driven strategies to enhance the resilience, responsiveness, and inclusivity of Kenya’s health system within the SHIF framework.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Actionable insights on how AI can optimize health financing models to address gaps in healthcare access and eliminate financial barriers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recommendations for integrating AI into policy frameworks to support the efficient and equitable rollout of Kenya’s SHIF.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clear next steps for leveraging AI to enhance the sustainability and scalability of Kenya’s health insurance system\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cb>Public callout to all medical practitioners to: \u003C\u002Fb>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use their clinical knowledge to co-design large language models (LLMs)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Co-author a major publication on LLM performance\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build open-source medical AI tailored to the African 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