Regional Workshop for Eastern Africa: Promoting Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Health

The workshop was held from 13 to 15 May 2026 at the PrideInn Azure Hotel, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. Organized under the theme “Promoting Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Health,” the three-day event served as the final dissemination and knowledge-exchange platform of the APHREA-DST project, a five-year initiative (2021–2026) funded by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Data Science Initiative for Africa (DS-I Africa) program.

The workshop convened more than 60 participants, comprising data scientists, public health researchers, students, clinical professionals, policymakers, private-sector representatives, and early-career scholars, drawn from Kenya, Ethiopia, and the United States. It provided a high-level platform for showcasing the project’s research outputs, facilitating cross-institutional dialogue, and charting a course for the sustained development of public health data science capacity in Eastern Africa.
 
Over three days, participants engaged in plenary presentations, thematic research sessions, a panel discussion on strategic partnerships, an alumni showcase, and a dedicated session on the ethical, legal, and social implications of deploying artificial intelligence (AI) in African health systems. The event was officially opened by Prof. Leonidah Kerubo, Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at the University of Nairobi, and closed by the project’s principal investigators.

Key achievements of the APHREA-DST project presented at the workshop include the enrollment of 216 students in the MSc in Public Health Data Science across Kenya and Ethiopia, the graduation of 46 candidates, the publication of four peer-reviewed research papers, and the training of 12 academic staff through a structured Faculty Development Programme.

Read about the workshop on University of Nairobi News