By By Business Express Reporter
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is steadily reshaping healthcare in Kenya, emerging as a powerful tool for doctors navigating complex clinical decisions and striving to improve the quality of patient care.
In many rural and peri-urban clinics, junior doctors often find themselves making difficult medical judgments without the benefit of senior mentorship or specialist input. The consequences can be serious—delayed diagnoses, inadequate treatments, and inconsistent adherence to clinical guidelines. But technology is beginning to close that gap.
AI tools are now being deployed to assist in diagnosing diseases by analysing patient records, medical imaging, and other clinical data to detect patterns that may point to specific conditions. This means faster, more accurate diagnoses, earlier interventions, and improved patient outcomes.
Sceptics remain cautious, noting that human intuition and clinical experience cannot be entirely replaced. Concerns about accuracy, reliability, and ethical use of AI continue to be debated. Still, the technology is increasingly proving its worth as a supportive partner for healthcare providers rather than a replacement.
The urgency of innovation is clear. Kenya faces a severe shortage of doctors—just 10,000 to serve a population of over 52 million. It is against this backdrop that the Aga Khan University’s Data Innovation Office has introduced Afya Gema, an AI-powered clinical decision support platform designed to bridge this gap.
Farhana Alarakhiya, Chief Data Innovation Officer at Aga Khan University and Principal Investigator for Afya Gema, describes the system as a way to simplify clinical questions by merging evidence-based medicine with context-specific guidance. “By harnessing generative AI, we’re democratising clinical knowledge, making it instantly accessible to frontline healthcare workers,” she says.
The promise of Afya Gema has already drawn international recognition. The platform has been selected for the 2025 Google.org Accelerator, a programme advancing the use of generative AI in the social sector. Through this initiative, it will benefit from a share of a $30 million fund, technical training, Google Cloud support, and six months of hands-on assistance from Google experts.
Armed with these resources, Afya Gema plans to extend its reach to clinicians nationwide, equipping them with real-time, evidence-based support. Its platform draws from anonymised health records within Kenya’s Electronic Health Record system, integrates local clinical guidelines, and connects to a library of peer-reviewed medical research. Clinicians can query the system in both English and Swahili, making it accessible even in the country’s most remote regions.
Deployment is already underway in 40 facilities within the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) and Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) networks. Its multilingual design, coupled with localised disease insights, ensures that healthcare providers from diverse backgrounds can use it effectively.
Behind Afya Gema is the Aga Khan University Data Innovation Office, which works closely with researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to design scalable, data-driven solutions. Their goal is to strengthen healthcare delivery and inform public policy, proving how technology, when tailored to local realities, can push Kenya toward more equitable and sustainable health outcomes.
As AI becomes more embedded in Kenya’s healthcare system, the question is not whether it will change how doctors work—but how quickly and how deeply it will transform the future of medical care.
