Africa’s health data must serve its people, not just technology providers – WHO

Every day, health facilities across Africa generate information about patients, diseases, medicines, births, deaths and the delivery of healthcare services.

As more of this information moves into digital platforms, questions about who controls it, how it is used and who benefits from it are becoming increasingly important.

For Dr Benson Droti, Team Lead for Health Information, Knowledge Management, Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence at the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for Africa, health data must serve the interests of the people and countries from which it is generated.

“It is not simply [to] serve the commercial interests of those who fund or process it,” he said in an interview with JoyNews' Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen.

His comments come as African countries increasingly adopt digital technologies to support healthcare delivery, strengthen disease surveillance and improve decision-making.

Technology companies play an important role in providing digital platforms, infrastructure and analytical tools. However, Dr Droti said providing these services should not automatically give companies unrestricted control over the information generated within national health systems.

“Providing technology should not mean these companies acquire unrestricted control over the country's data,” he said.

His comments highlight the importance of establishing clear arrangements between governments and technology providers, particularly concerning the ownership, storage, access, processing and transfer of health information.

For governments entering such partnerships, important considerations include where health data are hosted, who can access and process them, whether they can be transferred across national borders and what happens to the information when a service contract ends.

The growing use of digital health systems has increased the importance of protecting personal health information while ensuring that health authorities and researchers can use data for legitimate public-health purposes.

Dr Droti said individuals have fundamental rights concerning their personal health information, while governments have a responsibility to establish the legal and institutional frameworks needed to protect those rights.

He said countries need clear rules governing how health information is accessed, stored, shared, processed and transferred across national borders.

These considerations are particularly important when governments rely on digital infrastructure, cloud services and analytical tools provided by companies operating outside their jurisdictions.

Clear governance arrangements can help establish who is authorised to access information, the purposes for which it can be used and the conditions under which it may be shared or transferred.

However, protecting personal information does not mean preventing the use of health data for research, disease surveillance and other public-health activities.

Dr Droti cautioned against treating data protection and data sharing as opposing objectives.

“The value of data lies in their use,” he said.

He argued that information that can be traced to an individual should be protected from inappropriate disclosure, while aggregated data can be made available for responsible public-health use.

“Once data are in aggregate format, they are actually safe to share and safe to use by anybody, either within the country or outside the country,” he said.

Health authorities use data to identify disease trends, monitor the delivery of healthcare services, plan interventions and allocate resources. Researchers and public-health institutions also rely on information to understand health patterns and assess interventions.

However, aggregated information still requires appropriate safeguards. Rules governing access, security, purpose and accountability remain important in determining how data are used.

The challenge, therefore, is to protect individuals' privacy while allowing health institutions and researchers to derive public-health benefits from available information.

Artificial intelligence and the need for accountability

The increasing use of artificial intelligence in healthcare presents additional considerations for African countries, particularly concerning the relevance, safety and effectiveness of the technologies being adopted.

AI tools can support disease diagnosis, data analysis and other health services. Their performance, however, depends partly on the quality and relevance of the information used to develop and train them.

Dr Droti said AI models developed in other parts of the world may not automatically be suitable for African settings because of differences in languages and disease patterns.

He said countries need to assess AI solutions for safety, effectiveness, fairness and relevance before adopting them.

He also identified the need for reliable digital infrastructure, electricity, internet connectivity, skilled personnel and appropriate governance arrangements to support the adoption of these technologies.

African countries, he argued, should develop the capacity to evaluate AI solutions rather than rely exclusively on technologies developed outside the continent.

The governance of health data is also important in this context, particularly where information generated within African health systems is used to develop, train or improve digital technologies.

Governments therefore need appropriate arrangements to establish how such information is accessed, processed and protected.

These issues are expected to feature in discussions at the First Africa Health Data Forum, scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 10 to 12 November 2026.

The forum is expected to bring together governments, the WHO, development partners, technical institutions, academia, civil society and private-sector representatives to discuss the future of health data systems.

Its concept note identifies national ownership, interoperability, governance, digital infrastructure and sustainable financing as important areas requiring attention.

For African countries, these issues are central to the development of digital health systems that can support healthcare delivery while protecting the rights of individuals whose information is collected and processed.

This includes establishing clear arrangements on where health data are stored, who can access them, how they are processed and whether they can be transferred across national borders.

Transparency in agreements between governments and technology providers is also important, particularly regarding the responsibilities of each party and the safeguards governing the use of health information.

Dr Droti's comments point to the need for African countries to safeguard their national interests while enabling the responsible use of health information to improve healthcare delivery and public-health outcomes.

As the continent advances its digital health agenda, questions about national ownership, data governance, technology partnerships and the responsible application of artificial intelligence will remain important to the discussion.

The First Africa Health Data Forum provides an opportunity for stakeholders to examine these issues and consider approaches to strengthening health data systems across the continent.