The Gates Foundation will support the expansion of Rwanda’s National Health Intelligence Center (NHIC), a government platform that uses artificial intelligence and real-time health data to detect disease outbreaks and improve healthcare delivery, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.
The partnership, announced after philanthropist Bill Gates toured the facility in Kigali, is expected to strengthen the center’s capacity to analyze health data, identify emerging health threats and help authorities intervene before outbreaks and other public health challenges escalate.
Gates visited the center with Health Minister Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana and Minister of ICT and Innovation Paula Ingabire, who briefed him on how the platform integrates health information from across Rwanda into a single, real-time system for decision-making.
Launched in April 2025, the National Health Intelligence Center serves as the country’s central health data hub, collecting and analyzing information from Community Health Workers, health posts, health centers, district hospitals, referral hospitals and private health facilities. The platform is designed to give health officials a live overview of the country’s health system, allowing them to monitor disease trends, assess service delivery and respond more quickly to emerging risks.
The Ministry of Health said the center has already helped improve healthcare services by reducing patient waiting times, strengthening ambulance coordination, enhancing disease surveillance and enabling health authorities to deploy personnel and medical supplies more efficiently.
Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said the platform has fundamentally changed how health data is used, replacing a fragmented reporting system with one that provides a nationwide picture in real time.
“You can sit in one room and understand the health situation across the entire country,” Nsanzimana said. “You can see how many people have high fever, how many women have given birth, how many babies have been born, where complications are occurring and where an outbreak could be emerging. Previously, gathering such information required meetings and field visits across the country, and it was difficult to obtain reliable data.”
The minister said the system has enabled Rwanda to shift from responding to health crises after they occur to identifying risks early enough to prevent them.
Earlier this month, Rwanda hosted health officials and experts from seven African countries who visited the NHIC to study its use of artificial intelligence and integrated health data in public health planning, reflecting growing regional interest in digital technologies to strengthen health systems.
With support from the Gates Foundation, the government plans to further expand the platform’s predictive capabilities, enabling earlier detection of disease outbreaks, faster public health alerts and more data-driven responses to future health emergencies.
The National Health Intelligence Center was launched during the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Africa, hosted by Rwanda in April 2025, and has become a key component of the country’s strategy to modernize healthcare through digital innovation.
