Scaling and Sustaining AI Solutions to Improve Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health in Sub-Saharan Africa (HASH 2.0)

In sub-Saharan Africa, indicators for maternal, sexual and reproductive health continue to lag other health indicators. For example, the continent is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal’s target of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to be a transformative tool in tackling the continent’s ongoing maternal, sexual and reproductive health challenges. However, significant concerns remain about the potential harms and risks of using AI in this sector.

IDRC supported the establishment of a Hub for Artificial Intelligence in Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health in sub-Saharan Africa, which, among other things, has funded development ofa tool for predicting miscarriages among women in Uganda. In this new project, the hub seeks to scale a subset of promising AI innovations for maternal, sexual and reproductive health from the previous project. The new project will also strengthen the capacity of AI innovators to create solutions for local maternal, sexual and reproductive health priorities based on large datasets. By the end of the project, the project teams aim to have AI solutions scaled in five African countries and four new AI innovations developed through an open innovation competition.

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