Nigeria urged to invest in AI and health research as funding drops

The federal government needs to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) and put more money into health research. This move will help protect Nigeria's public health system as international donor funding continues to drop.

Alash’le Abimiku, the Executive Director of the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), made this statement at a news conference in Abuja.

The conference took place before the fourth IRCE Annual Scientific Symposium set for 31 August to 1 September.

The theme of the symposium is “Shaping the Future of Public Health Research through Sustainable Funding, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) and Innovation.”

Ms Abimiku said the recent cuts in global health funding, especially from major international donors, highlight the importance of Nigeria boosting local funding for research. This will help build sustainable capacity.

She pointed out that increasing local investment can help tackle new health challenges and make the country less dependent on international funding.

Many researchers in Nigeria rely heavily on international grants. Ms Abimiku warned that shrinking research budgets could hurt the country’s chances of getting funding and creating valuable local evidence.

“We are asking government to begin investing in research. It may not be as much as international funding, but it can keep researchers productive, build capacity and sustain innovation.

“Disease outbreaks will not stop because funding has been reduced. HIV, cancer, sickle cell disease, Lassa fever and future pandemics will continue to challenge us, so we must prepare,” she said.

She noted that AI could improve research productivity and speed up data analysis. This will help strengthen evidence-based decision-making if used responsibly and ethically.

But she warned that researchers should not depend too much on AI. She stressed that innovation, critical thinking and scientific curiosity should remain at the heart of the research process.

“AI can summarise years of research within seconds, but researchers must continue to ask critical questions, experiment and innovate.

“We must use AI to enhance, not replace, scientific thinking,” she said.

Ms Abimiku explained that the symposium would discuss how AI and machine learning could help with reduced research funding by improving efficiency while also protecting data privacy and ethical standards.

She added that a pre-symposium hackathon has been created to teach researchers, healthcare professionals, and young innovators about practical AI tools to tackle public health issues.

This initiative aims to connect experienced researchers with younger professionals who are already using new AI technologies.

Ms Abimiku urged policymakers, industry leaders and researchers to work together to create sustainable research funding methods that will lessen Nigeria’s reliance on foreign support.

She mentioned South Africa’s competitive, government-funded research grants as a good example of how countries can keep scientific innovation alive even with less international funding.

Sophia Osawe, head of research operations at IRCE, also spoke. She mentioned that the centre’s Inform Africa programme is already using AI and machine learning to prepare Nigeria for disease outbreaks.

Ms Osawe said the programme uses big data to predict disease trends and find communities that need urgent help, including vaccine deployment during pandemics like HIV and COVID-19.

“These AI-powered tools help the government identify where interventions are most needed so resources can be deployed more efficiently and lives protected,” she said.

James Onyemata, who heads molecular diagnostics at IRCE, stressed Nigeria’s important position in regional disease monitoring and genomic tracking.

He pointed out that Nigeria makes up about half of West Africa’s population. The genomic surveillance data from Nigeria are crucial for making vaccines that work against local virus strains.

“If we do not provide this information, vaccines developed elsewhere may not adequately protect populations in West Africa because they may not target the variants circulating here,” Onyemata said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the symposium will include sessions on ethical AI, genomic surveillance, pandemic preparedness, sustainable research funding and innovations to strengthen Nigeria’s public health system.