American billionaire Bill Gates is in Rwanda to explore the country’s progress in health, artificial intelligence and digital public infrastructure. Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, announced his visit in a LinkedIn post on Monday, July 20. ALSO READ: Why Bill Gates, OpenAI chose Rwanda for $50m AI healthcare initiative “Over the last 25 years, Rwanda has delivered one of Africa’s most remarkable health transformations. The country shows what is possible when governments not only invest in life-saving technologies but focus on getting those technologies into the hands of the people who need them most,” Gates said. The visit comes months after the Gates Foundation and OpenAI announced a partnership to expand artificial intelligence-powered healthcare solutions across Africa, with Rwanda selected as the starting point for a pilot programme under the Horizon 1000 initiative. Announced in January, the $50 million initiative aims to deploy AI tools across 1,000 primary healthcare clinics and surrounding communities by 2028. The programme is designed to support healthcare workers rather than replace them, using artificial intelligence to strengthen diagnosis, improve resource allocation and support decision-making within health systems. “[Rwanda’s] health system is working extremely well. They track what they’re doing, they see what needs to improve, and they take action,” he said. He noted that since 2000, the country’s progress in reducing childhood deaths has been significant, with deaths among children under five declining from 59,000 to 16,000, a 73 percent reduction. ALSO READ: How Rwanda slashed child mortality rate “The quality of their health system, getting all vaccines out, has led to this fantastic result,” Gates said. Rwanda has already been investing in digital health systems, including the National Health Intelligence Centre (NHIC) AI Lab, which was launched in April 2025. The facility uses data from community health workers, health centres and hospitals to improve patient outcomes, strengthen health financing and support evidence-based decisions across the healthcare system. The country has also digitised community healthcare through Community EMR (cEMR), while platforms such as E-Ubuzima and E-Fiche allow health providers to track patients’ medical journeys from initial consultation to discharge.
