Spotlight on innovation: Google-sponsored Data Science for Health Ideathon across Africa

Generative AI is rapidly changing healthcare, opening up opportunities to better address real-world health challenges. Across the African continent, there is broad interest in tackling such challenges, ranging from cervical cancer screening to maternal health support.

With the above in mind, in collaboration with three pan-African data science and machine learning communities — SisonkeBiotik, Ro’ya, and DS-I Africa — we hosted an Africa-wide Data Science for Health Ideathon, focused on leveraging Google’s open Health AI models to tackle real-world health challenges.

From over 30 ambitious and technically rich submissions, six finalist teams were selected for their bold ideas, strong foundations, and potential for meaningful impact across African health systems. These teams received mentorship from global experts and technical resources provided by Google Research and Google DeepMind.

This reflects broad interest across the African continent on understanding how AI can be used to create local solutions to local priorities around health, agriculture and climate. This is part of Google’s broader initiatives on AI for Africa including in areas of health, education, food security, infrastructure and languages.

A new model for collaborative health innovation

An ideathon, much like a hackathon, is a platform for interdisciplinary teams to design solutions to crucial challenges, valuing the idea creativity as much as its execution.

The Ideathon was launched during the 2025 Data Science for Health in Africa Workshop at the Deep Learning Indaba, the gathering of Africa’s machine learning (ML) and AI community, dedicated to strengthening and celebrating African AI, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda. The Ideathon built on the shared vision of building capacity across African AI and health communities. Participants also had the opportunity at the workshop to attend a hands-on MedGemma tutorial led by Dr. Sekou Remy and Dr. Mercy Asiedu, research scientists at Google Research.

Teams were encouraged to explore Google’s open health AI models, namely: MedGemma, TxGemma, and MedSigLIP, and apply these models to healthcare challenges ranging from diagnostics to policy frameworks. Submissions were judged on innovation, feasibility, contextual relevance, and the creative use of Google’s AI tools in African settings.

From idea to impact: A two-phase journey

The Ideathon unfolded in two phases:

1. Idea development: Teams introduced their members, defined healthcare problems, and outlined AI-driven approaches using Google’s models. Selected teams received mentorship, Google Cloud Vertex AI compute credits, and technical documentation to refine their ideas.
2. Prototype & pitch: Teams submitted demo videos showcasing their solutions, which were then reviewed by a panel of expert judges who chose six finalists for the final, live pitch.

The final pitch: Creativity meets purpose

Six finalist teams presented their solutions during the DS4H Ideathon Live Pitch, broadcast globally, followed by a team Q&A session with the judges. The event emphasized not only technical excellence but also vision, collaboration, and contextual innovation in African healthcare.

Winning teams and awards

Here are the winning projects that showcase how Google's open models can serve as a foundation on which developers may build and help solve pressing healthcare challenges in Africa:

First place and Audience Choice Award: Dawa Health – AI-powered multilingual cervical-cancer education & screening tool

Built on MedSigLIP and enhanced with Gemini RAG. Midwives first upload colposcopy images via WhatsApp. The MedSigLIP-based classifier then identifies abnormalities indicating precancer/cancer in real time, while Gemini provides contextual clinical guidance using WHO and Zambian protocols [1, 2].

Team: Tafadzwa Munzwa, Khanyisile Magagula, Kudzal Mwedzi, Tariro Munzwa.

Second place: Solver – CerviScreen AI

A FastAPI web app for automated cervical-cytology screening based on MedGemma-27B-IT, fine-tuned with LoRA on the CRIC dataset. Outputs annotated images and concise clinical recommendations to assist cytopathologists.

Team: Bonaventure F.P. Dossou, Ariane Houetohossou, Aurel Tchokponhoue, Ghilith Gbaguidi.

Third place: Mkunga – Maternal AI call center

Adapting MedGemma and Gemini to provide maternal health advice in Swahili using TTS/STT, deployed on Vertex AI. Aims to scale as a low-cost telehealth assistant.

Team: Malik Lanlokun, Beryl Apondi, Janet Njiru, Joseph Wacira.

Best proof-of-concept (offline / low-connectivity): HexAI – DermaDetect

Offline-first mobile app that enables community health workers to triage skin conditions using adapted versions of on-device MedSigLIP and cloud-based MedGemma for advanced analysis, creating a “data flywheel” for continuous improvement.

Team: Ebrima S Jallow, Omar Keita.

Most fun solution: MamaLens Lab

Multilingual offline Android assistant for community health workers, adapting MedGemma, MedSigLIP, and TxGemma to assess pregnancy risk in English and Yoruba.

Team: Ilerioluwakiiye Abolade, Faith Nchifor, Toyibat Adele, Simeon Krah.

What comes next

The end of the Ideathon marks the beginning of sustained development and scaling. Several finalist teams are exploring ways to scale and deploy their solutions, supported by networks built during the program. The winning team, Dawa Health, is currently piloting an early access program for cervical cancer screening using a MedSigLIP-based classifier with plans to scale to 50,000 patients next year, effectively demonstrating scalable, real world impact.

To learn more about Google's open models and start exploring them for your own use cases, visit our HAI-DEF site. We welcome your feedback on the models and your use cases.

Acknowledgements

This initiative was made possible through the vision, collaboration, and funding support of the organizing team and partners: Comfort Adesina (Ideathon Chair, SisonkeBiotik), Abraham Owodunni (Technical Coordinator, SisonkeBiotik), Taliya Weinstein (Ideathon Host and Advisor, SisonkeBiotik), Ashery Mbilinyi (Ideathon Judge), Lukman Ismaila (Ideathon Judge), and Google Research and DeepMind: Mercy Asiedu, Sekou L. Remy, Sunny Jansen, Fereshteh Mahvar, Tiffany Chen, Yun Liu, Katherine Heller, Joelle Barrel, Richa Tiwari, Sunny Virmani.