The launch of SERA.ai, the first AI-powered health policy support tool in the country, which is capable of dramatically cutting the timelines of policy formulation from years to months, promises to bring a major technological shift to Kenya’s health sector.
A stakeholder workshop by Visortech Solutions and Yemaya Health Advisory facilitated the debut of the trailblazing instrument, with keynote speaker Dr. Nduku Kilonzo.
The event was a meeting of minds from not only the ministry of health officials, policy formulators, researchers but also technology experts, to delve into how artificial intelligence might revamp Kenya’s health policy processes.
Over time, Kenya has been experiencing policy development projects that are complicated by multiple stakeholders and hence are elongated, urgent health interventions have been delayed most of the time.
“The formulation of health policy in Kenya can sometimes be a very long process of several months or even years, and most of the time it tends to lag behind emerging evidence, especially during disease outbreaks when getting into action rapidly is very important,” said Dr. Kilonzo.
Powered by advanced Large Language Models (LLMs), SERA.ai, which literally means policy in Kiswahili is an effort to deal with the issues above. The system does a very quick search and identifies relevant health data from various sources, both global and local, around the world.
However, it synthesises the evidence to provide the user with the common ground, and it goes further to generate policy recommendations that account for the policy environment in Kenya. Furthermore, it facilitates more participatory, data-driven policy dialogues..
Expanding on SERA.ai features, Dr. Kilonzo said, “The uniqueness of SERA.ai lies in its technical competence to gather all the information contained in the WHO databases, PubMed, MOH reports, and even the information gathered in a stakeholder consultation and then, after having analysed it, to generate evidence-based, user-friendly recommendations.” He further added ,“Human judgment is not replaced by this tool ,but the decision-making power is strengthened.”
The team behind the project has gone as far as completing the first Minimum Viable Product (MVP1) and has conducted an ethical approval from Strathmore University. Some of the functionalities of the product are multi-agent architecture, document upload and query functions, automated referencing, and continuous user feedback integration.
The objectives of the workshop included presenting the tool capabilities, collecting feedback from various stakeholders, and plotting a participation pathway in Kenya’s health policy framework.
The scenarios used to exemplify potential included the development of strategies for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), designing responsiveness protocols for pandemics, updating maternal health guidelines, and managing tuberculosis (TB) policies.
Consequently, Dr. Kilonzo dwelt on the importance of the tool in emergency situations, “The difference between lives being lost or saved during COVID-19 was the timeliness of policy decisions. With SERA.ai in place, Kenya can always be ready for the next disaster.”
The project is committed to the responsible use of AI as well with strong safeguards for data privacy in place, encrypted prompts, and access controls based on roles.
On the whole, the stakeholders envisage the roles of SERA.ai to be the following: problem-solving and task accomplishment tool, adherence to evidence led decision making, changes management tool, and coherence across policy domains.
Dr. Kilonzo remarked on future and the prospection said, “This is not a mere technology demonstration. It really is about a new way of thinking that reshapes the health policy of Kenya – quicker, more intelligent and more in tune with our people’s need.