July 17, 2024
Innovations in Digital Health: Presenting mDoc’s AI-Driven Approach at the African Digital Health Summit
The digital transformation of Africa's health systems is evolving, African countries are increasingly adopting digital solutions in both public and private healthcare, with most countries having developed dedicated digital health strategies. These strategies are integrated into their national health plans and aligned with broader digital transformation agendas, promoting a coordinated approach to healthcare development.
This revolution is already enhancing the access, quality, and efficiency of healthcare on an unprecedented scale, rapidly accelerating progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and paving the way for a healthier, more connected Africa.
Every year, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, innovators, regulators, and development partners come together at the Africa Digital Health Summit to understand the complex convergence of digital technology and healthcare delivery. This event serves as an important catalyst for knowledge sharing and collaboration, propelling the continent toward a digitally enabled healthcare ecosystem. This year’s summit was held on 27-28 June 2024 in Lagos, under the theme “Digital Transformation of Health Systems: What, Why and How?”
With an emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionary potential on health outcomes in Africa, mDoc demonstrated multiple use cases of our approach to omnichannel, patient-centered, and AI-enabled virtual self-care for our members. AI-powered platforms offer significant potential for enhancing prenatal and postnatal care and encouraging healthier behaviors among women of reproductive age (WRA) navigating an overburdened health ecosystem. Additionally, these platforms provide cancer patients and those with sexually transmitted diseases with virtual patient navigation and lifestyle modification guidance, reducing risks through improved health knowledge.
During the conference, the Honourable Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, announced significant advancements in Nigeria's healthcare digitization through the National Digital Health Initiative (NDHI) and the Lagos State Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP). We are excited about these pioneering initiatives, which not only represent major strides in the nation's healthcare system but also present invaluable opportunities for collaboration, driving innovation, and efficiency in healthcare delivery across Nigeria.We were represented at the Summit through two-panel sessions, presenting three abstracts that highlighted our work in co-creating patient-centered, AI-enabled solutions in digital health reflecting our members' diverse self-care needs and experiences.
We were also honored to have the Country Director for MSD for Mothers, our funder, in attendance. She witnessed firsthand how their collaborators are building an ecosystem of cooperation. She also participated in a panel on "Gender in Health Information Systems and Digital Health," where she shared how their work in Nigeria has contributed to gender equality, particularly in empowering women to make informed decisions through a digital approach
We organized a panel session centered around optimizing maternal health care with AI-enabled platforms. It stressed on the significance in improving women's care throughout the antenatal and postnatal stages. The current state, future trends, and useful applications of AI in maternal healthcare and other fields were deliberated by experts from the government, private research, and social enterprises. The session also delved into how data-driven methods and machine learning can predict complications and tackle ethical issues like privacy and bias in AI.
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(From left to right: Jumoke Alaka : Manager, NITDA, Chiagozie Abiakam: Manager, Women’s Wellness, mDoc Healthcare, Dr. Eric Aigbogun: Senior Lecturer, Enugu State University of Science and Technology Enugu, Nigeria, and Manager, Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDaR), Dr. Omobosola Asuni - Head, Public Health, Helium Health) |
As part of our integration of large language models (LLMs) into our health coach chatbot - Kem - we presented our findings on how the patient-centered design approach allowed us to incorporate feedback from direct engagement with our members living with cancer. This focus is particularly crucial given that cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) contribute to 82% of premature deaths in Africa mDoc complements cancer care with virtual navigation and lifestyle guidance. We anticipate that LLMs will allow this empathetic and evidence-based support to close a significant gap in self-care for the numerous out-of-facility care needs of those living with cancer. Kem is available through mDoc’s CompleteHealthTM app (currently available on Android).
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Harnessing Patient-Centered Design Principles to Create an Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Coach Chatbot to Help Patients Living With Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa (Presented by Mayen Etuk (28 June 2024) |
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A key pillar of our four-pillar approach is NaviHealth.aiTM - a geocoded health services and providers directory that helps members navigate where and when to go for in-person quality care. We empower patients to provide feedback through a user-friendly review system aligned with the National Academy of Science's six quality domains, enabling healthcare providers to gain valuable insights for improving care quality and patient experience. To date, we have collected over 10,000 patient reviews. These reviews provide health seekers with relatable and reliable guidance on finding facilities and providers based on qualities that matter to them. Additionally, it provides physicians and facilities an honest and constructive opportunity to inform their efforts to improve. At ADHS 2024, we shared our findings on leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) to conduct sentiment analysis based on women’s direct reviews that were logged between April 2023 - February 2024. Using NLP, we generated valuable insights that not only can summarize sentiments, but also inform us on how to gather meaningful patient feedback
Accessing accurate health information tailored for women is challenging due to diverse needs. As an innovative effort to close gaps in knowledge, self-efficacy, and equity and inclusion, we’re thrilled at the reactions of our women members in interacting with our AI-enabled chatbot, Kem. In its preliminary building stages, we engaged and co-designed with over 400 diverse women in Lagos and Abuja to get their feedback on Kem’s usability. Surveys before and after interaction showed significant improvements in their confidence in Kem as a trustworthy, understandable, easy-to-use, and easy-to-navigate companion. LLMs notably boost Kem's accessibility and effectiveness in empowering women with reliable health insights for improved health.
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Improving Women’s Access to Health Information: Integration of Large Language Model with a Rule-based AI Chatbot (Presented by Elisabeth Ezekiel - 28th June 2024) |
JSI organized a fascinating panel discussion titled "Practical Application of Gender in Health Information Systems and Digital Health". mDoc, represented by Chiagozie Abiakam, participated in the session alongside Iyaduni Olubode from MSD Nigeria and Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Aliyu of the Jigawa State Primary Health Care Agency. Gender-sensitive approaches in digital health and health information systems to improve maternal healthcare outcomes were the main emphasis of the panelists' discussions.
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From left to right, the panel featured Steve Ollis, CHISU Program Director; Iyadunni Olubode, Nigeria Country Director, MSD for Mothers; Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Aliyu, Jigawa State Primary Health Care Agency; Pharm. Chiagozie Abiakam, Manager, Women's Wellness, mDoc)
Finally, we presented our work titled “Leveraging AI for Primary Health Care” at one of the side events. With the help of enhanced predictive skills, we are extending the use of AI beyond virtual support to member data analytics, risk prediction, and referral navigation, all of which will improve the delivery of healthcare. Accessibility is increased by incorporating voice recognition and African language support for smooth Voice-to-Text and Text-to-Speech.
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In addition, we are working together on policy to ensure ethical AI integration and creating AI tools to support healthcare personnel's AI literacy, all with the goal of enhancing patient outcomes and operational effectiveness. (Presented by Dr. Kolawole Akinjiola) |
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We thank the ADHS for convening innovators committed to promoting and scaling patient-centered digital health. The opportunity to share findings and highlight the transformative potential of advanced AI applications in healthcare is critical in learning best practices within our continent’s health context. By expanding beyond traditional roles to include predictive analytics and enhancing accessibility through innovative language and voice recognition technologies, we are poised to significantly improve healthcare delivery. Our commitment to fostering AI literacy among healthcare professionals and collaborating on ethical policy frameworks underscores our dedication to achieving better patient outcomes and operational efficiencies across Africa's healthcare landscape.
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mDoc CEO & Co-Founder, Nneka Mobisson with Honourable Commissioner for Health, Lagos State. Prof. Akin Abayomi |
mDoc Team |
