Experts Seek AI-Driven Innovation, Sustainable Funding For Better Health Outcomes

Renowned virologist and former Vice Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has said that Nigeria and other African countries can leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve public health outcomes, save time and resources, and accelerate development.

Tomori, who was the keynote speaker at the 4th Annual Scientific Symposium of the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) on Monday in Abuja, said AI could help countries harness vast amounts of information to make better decisions and achieve results faster.

The symposium, themed: “Shaping the Future of Public Health Research: Sustainable Funding, AI/ML and Innovation,” brought together researchers, government representatives, academics, industry partners and other stakeholders.

Speaking on the theme, Tomori said the focus was essentially about using AI to “do things better,” stressing that the technology could help researchers and policymakers access and analyse information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.

He said, “We are making efforts; we could do things faster. For example, take advantage of all the information available for AI, and then move faster and get our results faster than we are getting right now.

“Again, I want to stress that we could get better results than we are getting now in every aspect, not just health.”

According to the virologist, AI could integrate information from different sectors and provide better options for addressing challenges, noting that improvements in areas such as water and transportation could also contribute to better health outcomes.

Tomori added that AI could help countries save time and money while opening new opportunities to improve development outcomes. “It saves time, saves money and opens up other avenues to make use of, so that you can get better results from all,” he said.

However, he highlighted challenges that could limit Africa’s ability to fully benefit from AI, including poor digital infrastructure, low internet speeds and high electricity costs, which make it difficult for institutions to run cloud-based AI tools.

He also raised concerns about data bias, noting that many AI models are trained on datasets that may not adequately represent African populations, potentially affecting the accuracy of diagnosis, disease surveillance, and health planning.

Associate Professor of Infectious Disease and Genomics at Adeleke University, Dr Kolawole Oladipo, said Africa needed to develop AI solutions using locally generated datasets to ensure that technological applications were relevant to African populations.

Oladipo, who spoke on leveraging AI in whole-genome sequencing, said AI could support the development of biologics, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

He said adoption of AI for genomic research remained limited in Nigeria because most available technologies were developed in Western countries.

“We need African AI that is developed using African data sets and is reported to Africans, so that most of the results that we have from that AI will be tailored to the usage of the African population,” he said.

He also called for a national policy framework to regulate the use of AI in biological research, warning that advances in the technology could create biosafety risks if misused.

According to him, the ability of AI to facilitate sophisticated biological research makes regulation necessary to ensure that the technology is used safely and responsibly.

In her opening remarks, the Executive Director of IRCE and Professor at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, said the symposium was designed to promote collaboration among researchers, policymakers, academia and industry towards generating research and policies that benefit local communities and the wider world.

She said the growing constraints around traditional research funding made it necessary for African countries to rethink how research was conceived, funded, conducted and translated into action.

According to her, sustainable research ecosystems could not depend solely on external funding, stressing the need for strategic national investment, partnerships and policies that recognise research as a driver of development.

Abimiku also highlighted the transformative potential of AI and machine learning in public health, noting that the technologies could strengthen disease surveillance, improve diagnosis, predict outbreaks, optimise health systems and create new efficiencies for African institutions.

She, however, stressed that AI must be deployed ethically, transparently and equitably, adding that it should complement rather than replace human expertise, critical judgement and contextual understanding.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) stressed the importance of generating local data to inform policies and health interventions.

The NACA boss commended IRCE for promoting research and innovation, saying locally generated evidence was crucial to developing interventions capable of reaching Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations.

The DG said NACA was advocating increased domestic resource allocation and sustainability while exploring the use of AI to improve data analysis and health services.

She said that the lessons from the symposium could strengthen public health practice, particularly disease surveillance, while supporting more targeted innovations to address Nigeria’s health challenges.