APHRC Campus Building in NairobiAfrica’s push to harness artificial intelligence in healthcare is gaining new momentum after the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) joined a US$60 million global initiative aimed at closing the evidence gap around AI-driven health innovations.
Rather than focusing on developing new tools, the Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative is taking aim at a different bottleneck: the lack of rigorous, real-world evidence to guide governments on which AI solutions actually work. The three-year programme, launched on 20 February 2026 at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, seeks to ensure that enthusiasm for AI in healthcare is matched by data on effectiveness, equity, and system fit.
Backed by the Gates Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome, EVAH will fund and coordinate a series of structured evaluations across Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The goal is to generate practical insights on how AI tools perform within real health systems—from feasibility and workflow integration to measurable patient outcomes.
Across many low- and middle-income countries, digital health and AI pilots have multiplied rapidly in recent years. However, policymakers often face limited independent evidence when deciding whether to scale these innovations nationally.
EVAH is designed to bridge that gap. Over the next three years, the programme will support locally led research teams to conduct rigorous impact evaluations, with findings translated into actionable guidance for ministries of health and implementing partners.
APHRC will coordinate the initiative alongside the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), jointly overseeing the application and peer-review process and providing technical support on study design.
Within the partnership, APHRC will lead Africa-focused workstreams, including identifying priority AI tools relevant to the continent’s health needs, strengthening regional evaluation capacity, and supporting governments to interpret and apply emerging evidence.
Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director of APHRC, emphasised the importance of grounding AI adoption in solid research.
“AI presents an important opportunity to strengthen health systems, but scaling innovation responsibly requires strong evidence,” she said. “Through EVAH, APHRC will work alongside global and local partners to generate practical insights that help governments invest in solutions that are effective, equitable, and sustainable.”
The Nairobi-based centre brings more than 20 years of experience in health systems research, data science, and policy engagement, positioning it to play a central role in shaping how AI is evaluated and adopted across the continent.
The EVAH initiative reflects a broader shift in global health technology strategy, from rapid pilot deployment toward evidence-backed scale. By explicitly linking high-quality evaluations with policymaker engagement, the programme aims to ensure that AI investments translate into measurable improvements in health outcomes and more efficient use of limited resources.
If successful, the initiative could help African countries move beyond fragmented digital pilots toward more coordinated, evidence-driven adoption of AI in healthcare, setting a precedent for how emerging technologies are introduced into public health systems worldwide.
Photo courtesy / APHRC
Article by Jed Mwangi
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