In a statement released on January 21, 2026, the American billionaire Bill Gates, co-chairman of the board of the foundation who bears his name, announced a joint initiative with the company OpenAI, for digital health in Africa.

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are launching the Horizon1000 project to to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in systems of African health, starting from Rwanda. The aim of the project is to use artificial intelligence to solve accessibility problems for care, in countries where health coverage remains a challenge.

The initiative aims to support 1,000 centers of health by 2028 and intervenes in a context where physician shortages coexist with massive recourse to traditional medicine, which many States are now looking to structure.

Horizon1000's central argument is based on a widely documented observation: sub-Saharan Africa is facing a deficit massive structural health workforce. According to the World Organization of Health, the region could record a deficit of around 6.1 million health professionals by 2030, while in 2022, the region had only 1.55 health professionals per 1000 inhabitants, a far cry from 4.45 professionals recommended by WHO.

In this context, artificial intelligence is presented by the Gates Foundation and OpenAI as a productivity “multiplier”, capable of automating tasks administrative, to improve clinical decision support or to extend access to remote diagnostics. The benefits of this project should above all be make the resolution feel the famous “ last kilom è tre mso-bidi-font-family: "Bookman Old Style">” , c serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Bookman Old Style">' is- to -say the difficulty é route review products m é dicals or care up to the final patient, particuli è strictly in isolated areas é es. L ' Horizon1000 initiative by é sees a commitment from $50 million in funding, technology and technical assistance to support the adoption of these tools in primary care systems African countries, with an initial deployment in Rwanda.