Ai Kenya podcast EP01 Part 1:Building an Ai powered digital assistant for health workers in Tanzania
Science & Technology
Introduction
Welcome to the Spotlight AI Kenya series, presented by Microsoft. This podcast is intended for a wider audience to understand artificial intelligence, the companies and startups contributing to it, and its benefits. I’m your host, Alpha Donger. In today’s episode, we welcome Alice Selene Jr. and Megan Allen from Inspired Ideas, a company based in Tanzania. They have developed a solution called Dr. Elsa—a digital assistant aimed at supporting health workers. We’ll discuss the technology behind it and the challenges they face while engaging users to adopt this innovative technology.
Introducing Our Guests
Megan, could you start by sharing your background?
"I studied health for most of my college career, earning a master's degree in biology and society. As an HIV/AIDS researcher in Tanzania, my interest in healthcare led me to pursue my passion for leveraging technology solutions in healthcare. That's how I met Ali, and together we work on this exciting project."
Ali, what about you?
"I’m a trained software engineer and an AI enthusiast. Although I didn’t attend school specifically for AI or data science, I’ve learned about it through hands-on experience. I obtained my bachelor’s degree from the Florida Institute of Technology and worked in Houston and California, where I first started engaging with AI while working on a project to predict student housing."
What is Dr. Elsa?
Dr. Elsa is a digital health assistant tool designed to augment the knowledge and capacity of healthcare workers in resource-limited areas. While primarily targeted towards healthcare professionals initially, the team also envisions it being useful to governments and the general public in the future.
The tool works as follows: during a patient’s visit to a dispensary, healthcare workers input relevant data such as the patient’s age, symptoms, region, and time of year. Dr. Elsa uses AI to analyze this information and provides evidence-based diagnosis support to help healthcare workers make informed decisions.
How is Dr. Elsa Accessed?
Dr. Elsa is available through multiple channels, including an Android app, an iOS app, and a web platform. The development team is also exploring SMS-based solutions and continues to iterate and improve the technology.
Defining AI at Inspired Ideas
How does Inspired Ideas define AI?
Ali explains, "To us, artificial intelligence is the intelligence demonstrated by machines. It’s often misunderstood and misused, but at its core, AI enables machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, like recognizing a person in a self-driving car."
Patient Interaction with Dr. Elsa
Currently, healthcare workers enter patient information into Dr. Elsa manually, but the team is developing a speech recognition module that will allow patients to speak directly to the assistant in future updates.
The Story Behind the Name “Dr. Elsa”
The naming of the tool has a personal story. Alice, with a passion for meaningful projects, names her initiatives after people who’ve positively impacted her life. Dr. Elsa is named after a girl from her high school who inspired her to work hard to achieve her academic goals.
The Technology Behind Dr. Elsa
The foundation of Dr. Elsa lies in the use of neural networks for disease recognition and prediction. Data availability plays a crucial role in all AI applications. Through regression and classification methods, the technology assesses patient information to predict potential diseases while also aiming to forecast disease trends in collaboration with the Tanzanian government.
Ali emphasizes the experimental nature of developing the technology, stating, "Ultimately, it is trial and error with some foundational rules of thumb. For most tasks, we utilize neural networks, inspired by how human brains function."
Conclusion
Dr. Elsa embodies the intersection of technology and healthcare, providing invaluable assistance to health workers in Tanzania. Inspired Ideas continues to innovate, aiming to make a significant impact in the healthcare sector through AI.
Keywords
AI, healthcare technology, Dr. Elsa, neural networks, Tanzania, digital assistant, healthcare workers, health data, evidence-based diagnosis, machine learning.
FAQ
What is Dr. Elsa?
Dr. Elsa is a digital health assistant designed to support healthcare workers in diagnosing patients in resource-limited areas.
How does Dr. Elsa categorize and analyze patient data?
The tool uses artificial intelligence, specifically neural networks, to create predictions and classifications based on the input data from healthcare workers.
Is Dr. Elsa available to the general public?
Initially designed for healthcare workers, the team envisions making it accessible to governments and the general public eventually.
What technological platforms does Dr. Elsa utilize?
Dr. Elsa is available via an Android app, an iOS app, and a web platform, with plans to incorporate SMS-based solutions.
How is AI defined by Inspired Ideas?
Inspired Ideas defines AI as the intelligence exhibited by machines, aimed at performing tasks that necessitate human-like understanding and recognition.