Kabarak University joins AI-driven project to boost public health

Kabarak University Vice-Chancellor Prof Henry Kiplagat. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Kabarak University has teamed up with local and international universities in an initiative to train young girls and women to use artificial intelligence in collecting data on public health.

The initiative announced Wednesday at the university's main campus in Nakuru County involves the University of Nairobi, the University of California, and San Francisco's Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS), among other local institutions of higher learning.

The project titled 'Enabling Girls in AI and Growing Expertise (ENGAGE)', is funded by Takeda Pharmaceuticals and is set to run for five years. It aims to empower over 800 young girls and women with critical skills to improve women's health in their communities.

Kabarak University Vice-Chancellor Prof Henry Kiplagat said the project will establish a public health-focused machine-learning training programme for girls and young women to reduce the gender-based gap and biases in data science.

"The project will not only help train adolescent girls and young women in Kenya in data science but also empower and provide career mentorship for the girls to write the code that influences how health policy and decisions are made about their health. This is a critical project to which we will accord unwavering support," Prof Kiplagat said.

Kiplagat added that the project will also help strengthen leadership potential and impact of women to improve health in their communities. "By equipping young women with these skills, the project is poised to transform lives and improve public health outcomes across Kenya. This will also inspire similar programs throughout Africa."

Under the project, the selected students drawn from high schools and learners taking science courses from institutions of higher learning will be trained in data science and artificial intelligence with the view to using knowledge and skills to solve public health problems within the communities.

Prof Julius Oyugi, Director of Research at the University of Nairobi's Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases and the lead researcher of the programme, said that the project targets students from less privileged economic backgrounds.