03-28-2025, 05:38 AM
The World Health Organization estimates that data-driven healthcare interventions could save nearly one million lives in Africa by 2030.
In 2019 Aga Khan University (AKU) partnered with MEDITECH to roll out a modern, cloud-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system across Kenya. By November 2022, Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi had gone fully digital with MEDITECH Expanse, capturing clinical data in real time and replacing paper-based systems. But this wasn't just about going paperless. This data isn't just sitting in a server room, they are turning it into insights that drive research, policy, and most importantly, impact —not someday, but today.
Every year, 213 million cases of malaria are reported across Sub-Saharan Africa—and the region shoulders a significant share of that burden. HIV continues to devastate lives, with 4.8 million people living with HIV in Kenya alone, and East Africa accounting for a staggering 25% of the global HIV burden. And it doesn't stop there.
Maternal mortality remains shockingly high—556 deaths per 100,000 live births—more than 250% above the global average. Meanwhile, we face a critical shortage of healthcare workers, with ratios far below WHO recommendations. And compounding all of this? Many clinical guidelines and care pathways developed in high-income countries (HICs) simply don't work there. For example, colorectal cancer: while HICs recommend screening at age 50, patients in Kenya often present before 40, and with different symptoms altogether. Standard genomic cancer tests are often ineffective for its populations, because they weren't designed for their genetic diversity.
Bottom line? AKU is betting on data to build its own solutions. Read more here.
In 2019 Aga Khan University (AKU) partnered with MEDITECH to roll out a modern, cloud-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system across Kenya. By November 2022, Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi had gone fully digital with MEDITECH Expanse, capturing clinical data in real time and replacing paper-based systems. But this wasn't just about going paperless. This data isn't just sitting in a server room, they are turning it into insights that drive research, policy, and most importantly, impact —not someday, but today.
Every year, 213 million cases of malaria are reported across Sub-Saharan Africa—and the region shoulders a significant share of that burden. HIV continues to devastate lives, with 4.8 million people living with HIV in Kenya alone, and East Africa accounting for a staggering 25% of the global HIV burden. And it doesn't stop there.
Maternal mortality remains shockingly high—556 deaths per 100,000 live births—more than 250% above the global average. Meanwhile, we face a critical shortage of healthcare workers, with ratios far below WHO recommendations. And compounding all of this? Many clinical guidelines and care pathways developed in high-income countries (HICs) simply don't work there. For example, colorectal cancer: while HICs recommend screening at age 50, patients in Kenya often present before 40, and with different symptoms altogether. Standard genomic cancer tests are often ineffective for its populations, because they weren't designed for their genetic diversity.
Bottom line? AKU is betting on data to build its own solutions. Read more here.