The Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab at the University of Barcelona (BCN-AIM) is coordinating AFRICAI-RI , a pioneering European project to establish Africa's first medical imaging research infrastructure. Together with 13 other institutions from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, this centre, led by ICREA researcher Karim Lekadir from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Barcelona, will strengthen ethical, inclusive and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (IA) for healthcare in Africa.
AFRICAI-RI aims to improve healthcare on the African continent by focusing on respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, two of the leading causes of mortality in Africa. To this end, the project aims to provide the region with artificial intelligence and medical imaging resources by securely connecting hospitals, universities and research centres and in a privacy-preserving manner, without the need to centralize sensitive medical data.
"AFRICAI-RI represents a major step towards data sovereignty and equitable AI innovation in Africa. Our goal is to build, with Africa and for Africa, empowering researchers and clinicians to lead in developing AI solutions for the continent's most pressing health and imaging challenges," says Karim Lekadir, one of the project coordinators alongside Dinis Nguenha, from the Manhiça Health Research Centre (Mozambique).
AFRICAI-RI also addresses the critical challenges posed by infectious diseases and the shortage of medical imaging specialists in the region. The project will establish ethical, legal and governance frameworks for responsible AI, ensuring alignment with both European and African data protection standards.
"We are building more than AI models; we are building a future in which Africa drives the standards for ethical and scalable digital health," says Dinis Nguenha.
