Rwanda will be the proving ground for a US$50 million initiative to close gaps in the continent’s healthcare system using artificial intelligence (AI).

A partnership between the Gates Foundation and OpenAI, dubbed Horizon1000, aims to reach 1 000 primary healthcare clinics and surrounding communities by 2028, reports ITWeb Africa.

The initiative will start in Rwanda and expanded to other countries on the continent.

Rwanda’s minister of ICT and innovation, Paula Ingabire, said the focus would be on practical impact of AI. ‘It is about using AI responsibly to reduce the burden on healthcare workers, to improve the quality of care, and to reach more patients,’ she said.

At the World Economic Forum at Davos, where the initiative was announced, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Gates said that AI could help the healthcare sector in Africa ‘get back on track’ following funding cuts by the US.

‘People in poorer parts of the world shouldn’t have to wait decades for new technologies to reach them,’ he said later.

The initiative will see AI tools deployed to support frontline health workers rather than replace them, helping with clinical decision support, patient triage, record-keeping and multilingual communication.

27 January 2026
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