3 JUL

AI Tools, Tips, and Trends for Public Health

In our fourth and final episode of the AI for Health Series, we take a peek under the hood of the maternal health chatbot supporting pregnant woman delivering in public health facilities across South Africa. To begin, Debbie Rogers, CEO of Reach Digital Health, shares her personal take on the origin story of MomConnect, South Africa’s maternal health chatbot. Sid Ravinutala of IDInsight then takes us on a tour of how AI will change chatbots, governments, science, music, and health. Along the way, Sid and Debbie share a number of specific tools, tips, and trends relevant for AI practitioners everywhere. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.). This is the fourth and final episode of our series on AI for Health. Thank you to our sponsor, Reach Digital Health, for making this series possible. Connect with Africa Health Ventures 📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about deals, news, events, and opportunities related to healthcare ventures in Africa 👍 Follow us on LinkedIn 🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast to get notified when new episodes air 🪙 Nominate an African startup for seed funding 🤝🏻 Invest with us Show Notes In this interview, we cover: * (2m56s) - An introduction to MomConnect, South Africa’s maternal health chatbot. * (9m30s) - What is the future of MomConnect? Debbie looks ahead to how AI will allow chatbots to address the specific and personal needs of mothers across South Africa. This hyper-personalization will unlock behaviour change and precision health at scale. * (13m53s) - IDInsight has supported MomConnect to better understand what mothers need when they interact with MomConnect and guide them to the right information. They are using AI to infer meaning from words i.e. intent classification. * (17m07s) - Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT will allow the average citizen to better understand and tap into government programs and benefits. Sid cites the example of Indus Action’s work in this space in India. * (20m12s) - AIs are now pretty good at making music. We share a clip from a song generated by AI. * (22m07s) - Sid anticipates how AI will usher in a new era of qualitative science. * (25m00s) - “Every AI Application in the Social Sector Should Have Guardrails". See below for links to specific guardrail tools recommended by Sid. * (27m40s) - Sid unpacks the role of regulation to manage the risks of AI. He discusses the balance between regulation and acceptable risk. * (32m18s) - Sid shares a set of technical tools and resources for getting started with AI. Also linked below. * (32m58s) - A few shoutouts to other organizations doing interesting work in this space. * (33m49s) - The next 10 years according to Sid and Debbie. Tools and References * NeMo Guardrails and Guardrails: Sid recommends that every AI application in the social sector should be using guardrails. Here are two open-source toolkits that programmers can add to their applications to implement such guardrails. * To get started quickly with AI applications, Sid recommends a suite of tools: * LangChain is a programming framework to make it easy to build LLM tools. * Llama Hub is a centralized repository and platform for integrating various tools and plugins specifically designed to enhance the functionality and performance of the LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) series of models. * LammaIndex is a toolset designed for indexing, querying, and managing data to improve the efficiency and accuracy of search and retrieval operations in large-scale language models. * Suno AI is the tool Sid used to generate his song on AI for good. It’s pretty good. * Reach Digital Health is a South African nonprofit that scales digital health programmes to improve delivery of healthcare services. * IDInsight helps leaders combat poverty worldwide by designing, deploying and promoting evidence-generating tools, including data science and artificial intellig

39 min

13 JUN

How LLMs Will and Won't Work for Healthcare in Africa

There's a lot of hype about what generative AI and LLMs like ChatGPT will do to improve healthcare in Africa and around the world - but is it going to work? Today we sit down with the team running the largest study ever done on how LLMs will - and won't - work for healthcare in Africa. Tobi Olatunji, Founder and CEO of Intron Health, speaks with Bilal Mateen, Executive Director of Digital Square at PATH, to discuss the upcoming AfriMed-QA project which will evaluate 20 LLMs over 32 clinical specialties across 15 countries in Africa. This is Part 3 of 4 of our series on AI for Health. Shoutout to our sponsor, Reach Digital Health, for making this series possible. Show Notes * (4m02s) - Introducing Bilal Mateen and Tobi Olatunji * (9m20s) - The 4 Ways Generative AI Will Change Healthcare in Africa * (17m01s) - The AfriMed-QA Project will create a dataset of 20,000 medical questions and answers from 15 countries across Africa and 32 clinical specialties. In the second phase, the Project will benchmark 20 of the leading large language models (LLMs) in the world to evalutae their effectiveness in the context of Africa healthcare. * (30m02s) - Takeaways from our guest speakers for anyone working in global health and looking to apply AI * (32m46s) - A call to action for the community of global health donors Note the content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment, legal, business, tax, or medical advice. Nor should this information be used to evaluate any investment or security. Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe

36 min

21 MAY

AI for Health, Part 2: A Step Ahead

How do global actors stay one step ahead of the risks posed by AI for health? In Part 2 of our 3-part series on AI for Health, we dive deeper to see what’s going on inside the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to safeguard the future. Today’s lineup includes: * Dr. Sam Oti of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) in Canada and Host of the MedxTek Africa Podcast * Andy Pattison, Team Lead Digital Channels, World Health Organization Stay tuned for the last episode in our mini-series about AI for Health, where we’ll take a peek under the hood of AI with makers and innovators at IDInsight, PATH, and Intron Health. Shoutout to our sponsor, Reach Digital Health, for making this series possible. Connect with Africa Health Ventures 📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa 👍 Follow us on LinkedIn 🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast 🪙 Nominate an African startup for seed funding Show Notes Some of the topics we cover in this panel discussion include: * (3m24s) - What is the World Health Organization (WHO) doing to ensure the ethical application of AI to global health - and minimize the many risks it presents? * (5m25s) - How the WHO is working with technology partners to tackle misinformation * (12m02s) - How the WHO uses AI to understand how people are thinking about and responding to health information * (24m16s) - How did IDRC become of one of the first major funders in the world of AI for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) * (28m04s) - How does the AI for Global Health program work? * (34m29s) - What is NOT fundable? What kind of proposals get rejected? * (37m48s) - What African healthtech startups are leading the charge to disrupt healthcare with AI? Learn More * You can learn more about Andy Pattison’s work with the Digital Channels group at the WHO here. * The WHO publication, Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health, highlights the ethical challenges and risks with the use of artificial intelligence of health and proposes six consensus principles to ensure AI works to the public benefit of all countries. * Artificial Intelligence for Global Health is a five-year, CAD15.5 million investment from IDRC to fund AI efforts in low- and middle-income countries to strengthen health systems. Through this funding, research and innovation hubs have been established across Africa to support the development of responsible and inclusive AI. * Based out of Makerere University in Uganda is the Africa Hub for Artificial Intelligence in Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health in Africa (HASH). * In Kenya, Villgro Africa is the commercialization hub for Africa. * MedxTek Africa is a podcast from Dr. Sam Oti that showcases digital health and healthtech innovations from across Africa. * In his capacity as host of the MedxTek Podcast, Dr Sam Oti has interviewed dozens of promising healthtech startups across Africa. He highlights a few that are making strides in the application of ethical AI to global health challenges. These include: * MinoHealth AI Labs in Ghana develops AI-driven diagnostic and treatment recommendations to improve patient outcomes in Africa. * Intixel from Egypt creates AI-powered software for medical imaging, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of radiological diagnoses through automated analysis and interpretation. * Hurone AI founded by Dr. Kingsley Ndoh from Nigeria focuses on developing AI-based oncology solutions that offer personalized cancer treatment plans and improve access to quality care for cancer patients in Africa. * Jacaranda Health in Kenya provides an AI-powered health navigator that engages new and expecting moms through a chatbot on how to work with the public health system. * Looking ahead at the innovations that might be a game-changer for personal health, Dr. Sam Oti highlights the possibility of wearable AI. As an example

42 min

2 MAY

AI for Health, Part 1: Promise and Perils

With the mind-bending pace at which artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work and live, healthcare organizations are asking themselves: what do I need to know today to seize this opportunity? In this episode, experts from the World Health Organization, IDInsight, and Reach Digital Health unpack the promise and perils of AI for health. Today’s episode is a panel discussion first recorded live at the Marmalade Festival at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford on April 12, 2024. This is the first of a 3-part podcast series on AI for Health powered by Reach Digital Health. Our lineup includes: * Andy Pattison, Team Lead Digital Channels, World Health Organization * Debbie Rogers, CEO of Reach Digital Health * Sid Ravinutala, Director of Data Science, IDInsight Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.). Stay tuned for future episodes on our mini-series about AI for Health. In our next episode, we'll speak in greater depth with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Canadian funding agency IDRC, and the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Connect with Africa Health Ventures 📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa 👍 Follow us on LinkedIn 🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast 🪙 Nominate an African startup for seed funding Show Notes Some of the topics we cover in this panel discussion include: The Promise (5m09s) - Our speakers discuss the breakthroughs now possible with AI for health, including the ability to diagnose diseases years earlier than ever before; to instantaneously disseminate essential health information across languages and countries; and the ability to provide hyper-personalized care to an individual based on their needs, body, and preferences. The Perils (14m11s) - While it’s tempting to deploy AI systems for health as soon as possible, these also pose very real risks in the high-stakes work of medical care. AI is known to hallucinate: to make up information that has no grounding in reality; AI is deeply biased towards rich people living in the connected world; and AI has the potential to be the most persuasive - and by extension the most manipulative - technology we have ever seen. So… What Now? (27m02s) - What do non-profits and social enterprises need to know today to seize the opportunity? Among the many tips and suggestions shared by our speakers, Debbie’s call to action is: get stared now. If you wait two years, you’ll be another two years behind. Q&A (35m37s) Towards the end of this episode, our guests field real-world questions posed by the live audience in Oxford, such as how to source diverse data, how to mitigate bias, and the real risk of magnifying the digital divide. Learn More * Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health highlights the ethical challenges and risks with the use of artificial intelligence of health and proposes six consensus principles to ensure AI works to the public benefit of all countries. * Ada, Reach Digital Health, and the National Department of Health in South Africa launched a collaboration to provide AI-powered medical advice to mothers across the country. * MomConnect is the South African platform to share essential health information with pregnant women across the country. It is provided by the National Department of Health in South Africa in partnership with Reach Digital Health. * This episode is a panel discussion first recorded live at the Marmalade Festival at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford on April 12, 2024. You can watch a brief highlights video of the event here. * Elicit is the AI assistant that can comb through the body of scientific papers to provide precise answers to research questions. Sid mentions Elicit as a counterexample to the significant risk of AI misinformation i.e. the ways in which AI can help societies in their search for truth. * Karya provides high-quality datasets to power AI t

1h 1m

30/11/2023

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years

In 10 years, the medicine supply chain in Africa will look very different than it does today. In Part 2 of this podcast, we examine four key trends which are going to re-shape the medicine supply chain in Africa over the next decade - and shout out to a few of the entrepreneurs that are leading the charge. From regulatory changes spearheaded by the African Union to biomedical innovation requiring new pathways to patient, the medicine market is both growing and changing in Africa. Our lineup includes: * Mila Nepomnyashchiy, Lead Advisor, Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID * Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, The Global Fund * Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck * Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), Managing Partner at Celsian Consulting * Dr. Prashant Yadav, one of the world’s leading scholars on healthcare supply chains. Dr Yadav is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Affiliate Professor at INSEAD and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.). In case you missed it, don't forget to check out Part 1 of this episode, where we trace the movement of a pack of medicines from a factory in India to the shelves of a mom-and-pop pharmacy in Zambia. Connect with Africa Health Ventures 📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa 🪙 Nominate a startup for seed funding 👍 Follow us on LinkedIn 🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast Show Notes Part 2 of The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa covers 3 segments: 1. The Outsized Role of Global Donors (3m22s) - There’s a world of difference between the private sector medicine markets and the ones supported by billions of dollars of international donor funding. We hear from Mila Nepomnyashchiy of USAID about two different worlds: one for the medicines endorsed by global funding… and one for everything else. 2. Four Trends That Will Dramatically Change The Medicine Supply Chain in the Next 10 Years (5m45s) - Trend 1: Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), on regulatory changes from the African Union that will massively expand the size of the market. (9m44s) - Trend 2: Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck, on vertically integrated supply chains that will reduce costs and increase access to consumers. (13m28s) - Trend 3: Dr. Prashant Yadav of the Center for Global Development on omnichannel distribution that will meet patients where they live and work. (16m46s) - Trend 4: Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain at The Global Fund, on the golden age of biomedical innovation that will challenge our existing ideas of both ‘medicines’ and ‘supply chain’. 3. Social Entrepreneurs Leading the Charge (20m31s) - Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights a handful of social enterprises that are leading the charge for change. Learn More * USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain Program is a US$9.5 billion program with support from PEPFAR. The follow-in contract may be as much as US$17 billion. * The Global Fund provides extensive support to countries in procuring low-cost, priority medicines. Every year it spends about US$2 billion to procure medicines for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. * The Africa Medical Supplies Platform is a pooled procurement mechanism spearheaded by the African Union * The African Medicines Agency seeks to create a common regulatory environment for medicines across Africa * The African Continental Free Trade Agreement could create the largest free trade area in the world * mPharma provides medicines to pharmacies, but does not require payment until those medicines are sold. This helps pharmacies to stock more medicines by de-risking the need for upfront cash. * Maisha Meds is providing forecasting, sourcing, and other technology support

23 min

21/11/2023

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa: from Manufacturer to Pharmacy (Part 1)

What does it take to move a pack of medicines from a factory in India to the shelves of a mom-and-pop pharmacy in Zambia? In this episode, we explore the world of the medicine supply chain in Africa, as told by the people who run it. Along the way, we unpack the market dynamics which limit access to low-cost, essential medicines. Our lineup includes: * Yusuf Rasool, Director of Global Market Access at MSD/Merck * Clinton De Souza, former Director of Public Health for Imperial Logistics (now DP World), Managing Partner at Celsian Consulting * Michael Moreland, CEO and Founder, Field Intelligence * Sidharth Rupani, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, The Global Fund * Mila Nepomnyashchiy, Lead Advisor, Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID * Dr. Prashant Yadav, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, Affiliate Professor at INSEAD and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School Listen now wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc.). Stay tuned for Part 2, when we look at the future trends which are going to dramatically change this supply chain and highlight a few of the new ventures which are leading the way. Connect with Africa Health Ventures 📰 Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about what’s going on with healthcare ventures in Africa 🪙 Nominate a startup for seed funding 👍 Follow us on LinkedIn 🎙️ Subscribe to this podcast In this episode, we cover * (2m54) - Setting the stage: we introduce several of the key actors in the medicine supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies. Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the key role of Ministries of Health as well as the disruptive influence of social entrepreneurs. * (8m27s) - Yusuf Rasool of MSD/Merck describes the role of large pharmaceutical companies and why it is difficult for a large multinational to operate directly in 54 different African countries. * (10m57s) - Clinton De Souza digs into two of the structural problems in the medicines market which makes it difficult for distributors to deliver low-cost essential medicines. * (19m07s) - From the perspective of Five Star Pharmacy in Zambia, we look at the working capital gap which prevents small pharmacies from making the full range of medicines available to people. * (21m49s) - Michael Moreland of Field Intelligence describes the role of social entrepreneurs and embedded financing in allowing small pharmacies to increase product availability. * (29m17s) - Recap of the episode so far and teaser for Part 2 Learn More * Health Product Supply Chains in Developing Countries - This 2015 paper from Dr. Prashant Yadav summarizes the key actors and common challenges of medicine supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. * How Local Innovation Can Drive the Global Development Agenda - This 2023 piece from Dr. Prashant Yadav highlights the importance of new social entrepreneurs in addressing gaps in the private and public medicine supply chain. * Innovations in Digitizing Health Supply Chains in Africa - This 2023 market intelligence report from Salient Advisory highlights some of the key areas of the medicine supply chain where startups in Africa are most active. * How MSD/Merck is improving access to healthcare - This page highlights a few of the affordability solutions that MSD/Merck’s Access to Medicines team is working on around the world. * Imperial Logistics is one of the largest medicine distributors on the African continent. * Five Star Pharmcies is a chain of retail pharmacies in Zambia founded by Lloyd Matowe with the support of Clinton De Souza. * Field Intelligence is a social enterprise providing planning, fulfilment, and financing of pharmaceuticals to over 35,000 points of care in Nigeria and Kenya, including government clinics, retail pharmacies and drug shops, hospitals and telehealth providers. * Was the $9.5B health supply chain 'a waste of USAID's money'? - Earlier this month, Devex published a(nother) searing indictment of USAID

32 min

28/09/2023

Introducing the Africa Health Ventures Podcast

Unlocking access to quality healthcare in Africa by 2030 will require radical innovations. Join veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk in conversation with healthcare industry leaders and innovators every quarter to strategize on what the future of healthcare in Africa will look like. This podcast is for social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and global health professionals who need to stay ahead of the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare in Africa. Subscribe to our newsletter at AfricaHealthVentures.com/Subscribe Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe

2 min

05/09/2023

Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods: Digital First Healthcare Saving Lives at the Last Mile

Chuck Slaughter is the founder of Living Goods, which supports over 10,000 digitally-empowered community health workers who are reducing child deaths by over 25% at an annual cost of under $4 per person. As a Senior Advisor to TPG Rise (a $10 billion impact investing platform), Director of the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and a successful entrepreneur, Chuck has a rich perspective on how digital is reshaping aid and development work. Tune in today to hear Chuck’s guidance on whether to ‘build or buy’ tech, why nonprofits struggle to deliver the best technology products, and how governments and the private sector need to work together to scale high-impact innovations. Chuck serves on the boards of Yale’s School of Management, Tidepool, Reach Health, and the Horace W Goldsmith Foundation. He received a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a Draper Richards Kaplan Fellowship, and is a World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur of the Year. A Few Highlights (6m27s) - How Chuck and Living Goods became digital first (13m45s) - The DESC metaphor of Living Goods: Digital, Equipped, Supervised and Compensated (22m01s) - Working with new technologies: the 'build or buy' debate (28m24s) - Why nonprofits struggle to build great tech (32m09s) - The digital transformation of aid: grantmaking through the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation (37m08s) - Financing scale: how governments and the private sector need to work together (40m19s) - Rapid fire questions, shoutouts, and recommendations You can learn more about Living Goods on their website at livinggoods.org. Let us know what you thought of this episode on LinkedIn or Twitter (@AidEvolved). You can also access show notes at AidEvolved.com. Get full access to Africa Health Ventures at rowenaluk.substack.com/subscribe

46 min

The Africa Health Ventures Podcast

AI Tools, Tips, and Trends for Public Health

How LLMs Will and Won't Work for Healthcare in Africa

AI for Health, Part 2: A Step Ahead

AI for Health, Part 1: Promise and Perils

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa: from Manufacturer to Pharmacy (Part 1)

Introducing the Africa Health Ventures Podcast

Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods: Digital First Healthcare Saving Lives at the Last Mile

About

Information

The Africa Health Ventures Podcast

Episodes

AI Tools, Tips, and Trends for Public Health

How LLMs Will and Won't Work for Healthcare in Africa

AI for Health, Part 2: A Step Ahead

AI for Health, Part 1: Promise and Perils

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa, Part 2: The Next 10 Years

The Medicine Supply Chain in Africa: from Manufacturer to Pharmacy (Part 1)

Introducing the Africa Health Ventures Podcast

Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods: Digital First Healthcare Saving Lives at the Last Mile

About

Information