Multiple African nations lack the capacity to efficiently record deaths, establish their causes and analyse health data, a study by the World Health Organisation has found.  

The report, however, praised Nigeria for its lifesaving digital immunisation records, which help identify children who miss scheduled vaccinations.

The First African Health Data Forum launched the report in Nairobi on Tuesday, with senior health officials, ministers and other stakeholders in attendance.

The study assessed 40 African nations and found that only 21 nations make efforts to report the cause of eight in every 10 deaths.

This suggests that 19 countries do not probe to find out the cause of the majority of recorded deaths.

Mohamed Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, said a lack of probing to investigate the cause of deaths will deprive a demographic of people in need of essential life-saving care.

“When we do not know why people are dying, which children are missing essential services or where communities face the greatest health risks, we may overlook the very people who need our attention most,” Mr Janabi said.

The study also found that multiple African nations still struggle to understand the data they collect, as only 43 per cent of hospitals and clinics currently have the capacity to analyse health data.

The forum said many African nations were in the early stages of developing systems to provide credible health data.

Governance and finance were challenges hindering the health sector, as only 18 per cent of countries have allocations for health information systems.

Other challenges include coordination, routine data-quality checks and understaffing.

Hillary Kipruto, a WHO technical officer, said the forum, expected to run till Thursday, will examine the role of artificial intelligence in health care.

“The power for diagnostics has leapfrogged,” Mr Kipruto told UN News, noting AI can now generate analysis that would have otherwise taken months to complete. “We cannot run away from it, but we have to make sure that there are enabling legislation and frameworks which allow us to responsibly use AI.”