Universitat de Barcelona

04/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2026 05:49

The University of Barcelona leads a European project to improve healthcare for respiratory diseases in Africa through medical imaging and AI

The University of Barcelona leads a European project to improve healthcare for respiratory diseases in Africa through medical imaging and AI

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  • AFRICAI-RI brings together 14 leading institutions from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa to promote ethical, inclusive and trustworthy artificial intelligence for healthcare.
  • Funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe programme, the project is coordinated by Karim Lekadir, director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab (BCN-AIM) at the University of Barcelona.
ICREA researcher Karim Lekadir from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the UB.
News | Research | Technology | Health
30/04/2026

The Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab at the University of Barcelona (BCN-AIM) is coordinating AFRICAI-RI, a pioneering European project to establish Africa's first medical imaging research infrastructure. Together with 13 other institutions from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, this centre, led by ICREA researcher Karim Lekadir from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Barcelona, will strengthen ethical, inclusive and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (IA) for healthcare in Africa.

ICREA researcher Karim Lekadir from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the UB.
News | Research | Technology | Health
30/04/2026

The Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab at the University of Barcelona (BCN-AIM) is coordinating AFRICAI-RI, a pioneering European project to establish Africa's first medical imaging research infrastructure. Together with 13 other institutions from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, this centre, led by ICREA researcher Karim Lekadir from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Barcelona, will strengthen ethical, inclusive and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (IA) for healthcare in Africa.

AFRICAI-RI aims to improve healthcare on the African continent by focusing on respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, two of the leading causes of mortality in Africa. To this end, the project aims to provide the region with artificial intelligence and medical imaging resources by securely connecting hospitals, universities and research centres and in a privacy-preserving manner, without the need to centralize sensitive medical data.

"AFRICAI-RI represents a major step towards data sovereignty and equitable AI innovation in Africa. Our goal is to build, with Africa and for Africa, empowering researchers and clinicians to lead in developing AI solutions for the continent's most pressing health and imaging challenges," says Karim Lekadir, one of the project coordinators alongside Dinis Nguenha, from the Manhiça Health Research Centre (Mozambique).

AFRICAI-RI also addresses the critical challenges posed by infectious diseases and the shortage of medical imaging specialists in the region. The project will establish ethical, legal and governance frameworks for responsible AI, ensuring alignment with both European and African data protection standards.

"We are building more than AI models; we are building a future in which Africa drives the standards for ethical and scalable digital health," says Dinis Nguenha.

Funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe programme, the project is coordinated by Karim Lekadir, director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab (BCN-AIM) at the University of Barcelona.

About AFRICAI-RI

AFRICAI-RI is a four-year Horizon Europe project (2025-2029) under the Global Health EDCTP3 programme (grant no. 101190731). It is coordinated by the UB and the Manhiça Health Research Centre. The following partners will collaborate in this consortium:

  • Delft Imaging Ghana (Ghana)
  • Jimma University Medical Center (Ethiopia)
  • Centre of Medical Research Lambaréné (Gabon)
  • Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (Uganda)
  • University of Kinshasa (DR Congo)
  • Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (Nigeria)
  • Iba Der Thiam University (Senegal)
  • Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Malawi)
  • Medical Research Council Unit of The Gambia (Gambia)
  • Erasmus Medical Centre (The Netherlands)
  • Foundation for Research and Technology (Greece)
  • Barcelona Institute for Global Health (Spain)

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Universitat de Barcelona published this content on April 30, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 30, 2026 at 11:49 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]