Abuja: Dr Oladipo Kolawole, an infectious disease expert, has emphasized the necessity for Africa to enhance its capabilities in owning, analyzing, and developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools tailored to its genomic data. This initiative aims to improve disease surveillance and public health outcomes across the continent. Dr Kolawole, an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases, voiced this call to action during the fourth Annual Scientific Symposium organized by the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN).
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the symposium, held in Abuja, was themed ‘Shaping the Future of Public Health Landscape through Sustainable Funding, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Innovation.’ Dr Kolawole, who is also the Founder of Helix Biogen Institute in Ogbomoso, warned that Africa’s progress in genomic intelligence would be hindered if AI models continued to depend predominantly on datasets from populations outside Africa. He highlighted that Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), when combined with machine learning, could empower African nations to better predict disease trends and antimicrobial resistance, provided the technology is trained using locally sourced data.
Dr Kolawole further explained that models developed from non-African data might not accurately represent the continent’s diverse genetic and pathogen profiles. “Models trained elsewhere do not automatically generalise to African populations due to distinct lineages and underrepresentation of our pathogen diversity. One size does not fit all; we must own our data and our AI tools,” he emphasized.
He illustrated the point by discussing antimicrobial resistance prediction, noting that some global AI models predicted ciprofloxacin resistance with about 75 percent accuracy in England but only about 50 percent accuracy when applied to African data. This discrepancy underscores the importance for African researchers to develop models grounded in local data. Despite the current lack of comprehensive genomic datasets, Dr Kolawole encouraged researchers to leverage available high-quality data to create foundational models that could be refined as more metadata and genomic information are collected.
Addressing concerns about the potential misuse of advanced biotechnology and AI tools, Dr Kolawole reassured that biosecurity measures are being established in research settings. He stated that researchers and students at his institute must sign biosecurity agreements before starting their work, ensuring legal and ethical accountability for the technologies they develop and use.
Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, the session’s chairperson, underscored the significance of accurate metadata collection, citing challenges faced during COVID-19 research due to missing metadata when linking genomic information to clinical profiles. She urged researchers to integrate comprehensive metadata documentation and quality control into the collection of genomic data from the beginning.
Representatives from eHealth Africa, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, and APIN Public Health Initiatives praised IHVN for maintaining the scientific platform. They advocated for a shift from temporary emergency-driven public health financing to sustainable institutional infrastructure that can swiftly respond to future health crises.