Dar es Salaam: Dr. Kahabi Isangula of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa, has been awarded a grant by the UK Research and Innovation-Medical Research Council to lead The Kikohozi Classifier, an initiative using AI to transform respiratory disease diagnosis in Tanzania. The project aims to develop an AI model for analysing cough sounds to detect conditions like tuberculosis and pneumonia.

The initiative, rooted in personal experience, targets communities with limited healthcare access. The AI tool could be deployed as a mobile application, providing a non-invasive, cost-effective screening method in remote areas lacking lab tests or imaging tools.

Persistence has been key to the project’s development. Initially unsuccessful in securing funding in 2023, Dr. Kahabi refined the proposal with published research protocols and mentorship support. The Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence programme, along with encouragement from key figures at Aga Khan University, bolstered the project’s momentum.

The initiative boasts a diverse team from the University of Warwick and East African institutions, combining expertise in AI, public health, and digital health innovations. The research will begin in Tanzanian communities and clinics, collecting cough samples and demographic data to support model development, with local data scientists invited to build their own models.

The Kikohozi Classifier signifies a move towards context-driven digital health solutions by African researchers for African communities, potentially impacting respiratory disease management in low-resource settings globally.