The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are launching a $50m initiative to roll out artificial intelligence (AI) across countries in Africa to ease healthcare workforce shortages, with the goal of reaching 1,000 primary healthcare clinics and their surrounding communities by 2028.
The pilot, called Horizon1000, will help expand access to higher quality healthcare in developing nations, according to Bill Gates, who unveiled the partnership at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on 21 January.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“[Compared to discovery], it’s even more important that AI be used on the delivery side, that’s true in rich countries but even more true in developing countries where you’re never going to have enough doctors or clinicians to deal with the demand manually,” Gates said at the forum.
“The goal is to make the work there much higher quality, and if possible, twice as efficient as it is today, taking away the paperwork that needs to be done, organising the resources so the patient knows what’s available and when to come for their appointments,” the Microsoft co-founder added.
Despite an anticipated increase in the stock of health workers in Africa over the coming years, research estimates that there will still be a shortage of around 6 million workers by 2030. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the region struggles with mismatches between training outputs and labour market needs; outdated education models; and underinvestment in training institutions.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also highlights the movement of African health professionals away from their home countries, predominantly towards higher-income nations – so-called “health worker migration”. Modelling scenarios pointed to by the agency project that by 2063, Africa could face cumulative losses of approximately $1.4tn due to the efflux of workers.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataGates said the OpenAI-partnered scheme to fill workforce gaps will start in Rwanda, though Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria will be added over time. Gates called the $50m commitment “just the beginning”.
Also speaking at Davos, Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s minister of information and communications technology, said: “We’re very grateful that the Gates Foundation has chosen Rwanda to be one of the countries where they start this engagement with OpenAI. [We’ll create] decision support tools for our 60,000-plus community health workers that provide primary health care to our communities across the country.”
Horizon1000 aims to accelerate the adoption of AI tools across primary care clinics, local communities, and in people’s homes. These AI tools will support health workers, not replace them, Gates was keen to add in a separate blog post.
Current AI technologies used in healthcare in wealthier countries include transcription tools, virtual doctors, and automated diagnosis platforms. Popular models include OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. OpenAI and Anthropic both announced the launches of healthcare-tailored versions of their platforms in January 2026.
A 2025 report on AI in healthcare by GlobalData forecasts that global revenue for AI platforms across the sector will reach a valuation of $57.4bn by 2029.
