AI diagnostics offer hope for Sudan’s collapsing health system
Sudanese health authorities are turning to AI to strengthen health systems after dozens of doctors were killed in the country’s almost two-year long civil war, according to a senior official.
Sudan’s health system is collapsing from shortages of medical supplies, a loss of doctors, and destroyed or looted medical facilities, particularly in hard-to-reach conflict areas, the World Health Organization has warned.
Al-Moghirah Al-Amin Gad Al-Sayed, director of the department of therapeutic medicine at the Federal Ministry of Health in Sudan, told SciDev.Net: “In conflict states, AI can play a big role, when traditional medical services are not available.
In areas where there is no doctor available to examine an x-ray, for example, AI can be used to match a patient’s image against thousands of stored images and provide a diagnosis, he explained.
Many studies have proven that [AI] shows great accuracy in medical diagnosis as a result of the data on which it has been trained, as well as the summary of human experiences and experiences that have fed it.”
Al-Moghirah Al-Amin Gad Al-Sayed, Director, Department of Therapeutic Medicine at the Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan
Migration of doctors was a problem for Sudan even before the onset of a war in which 50 medical staff have been killed in attacks on health centres by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to Al-Sayed.
The absence of medical staff and supplies is also fuelling antimicrobial resistance – where drugs are no longer effective against disease-causing bacteria – as patients turn to antibiotics indiscriminately, says Al-Sayed. This could create a “generation of resistant microbes” and the loss of one of the most powerful weapons in medicine, he warns.
Al-Sayed says AI can “help greatly” in compensating for the absence of medical staff in conflict zones, but stresses that additional health workers are also urgently needed, along with supplies of medicines and medical devices.
More broadly, innovation in healthcare delivery, such as using neutral actors to deliver vaccinations in conflict areas, is also crucial as traditional methods of providing services are eroded, he believes.
Forgotten war
The international media has failed to highlight the suffering of the Sudanese people, laments Al-Sayed: “The world sympathises with the ugliness of Israeli crimes involving children in Gaza, which have been highlighted by the international media, while in Sudan we have thousands of stories that are more horrible, but do not receive the same attention.”
Violence against women is widespread among these atrocities, forcing many families to flee. More than 11.5 million people have been displaced since violent clashes broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces in April 2023, according to the UN.
“The RSF has traditionally assaulted women wherever it enters, as a message to families to leave the area, so these attacks are the main reason for the migration of Sudanese families,” Al-Sayed explained.
Extreme weather events linked to climate change, have also exacerbated the impacts of the conflict, putting pressure on sanitation services and fuelling the spread of diseases, he added.
Months of torrential rains and floods which started in June last year killed scores of people and destroyed thousands of homes. The UN said the rains had worsened an already critical health situation, resulting in further displacements, cholera outbreaks and widespread infestations of scorpions and snakes in some states.
“MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders] is a key partner in the functioning of hospitals in safe areas, helping to provide services in conflict zones, but it needs more donor support to be able to provide more supplies,” added Al-Sayed.
