Why health experts want data protection reforms

________________

As Uganda accelerates efforts to digitise its healthcare system, experts say they are concerned about the country’s readiness to protect sensitive health data in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

The call during the second day of the Vitendo Digital Health Symposium (VIDISHA), was at Hotel Africana, in Kampala city on Friday, May 16, 2025.

During the event, panellists said the absence of strong data privacy frameworks could derail digital health progress.

“As far as health data protection is concerned, we are severely inadequate as a country,” Dr Jerome Mpaata, a pharmacist and medical law specialist, said.

Mpaata criticised what he referred to as the widespread and unsafe practice of sharing patient information through informal platforms like WhatsApp, and urged immediate reforms in privacy policies and ethical data handling.

The inaugural annual symposium was attended by legal experts, doctors, pharmacists and university representatives, as well as tech innovators from over 10 countries who delved into Uganda’s digital health ecosystem, spotlighting AI integration and governance gaps that threaten the integrity of health data systems.

Clarke International University vice-chancellor Rose Clarke Nanyonga, a key partner in the event, stressed the need to adopt global best practices while acknowledging the value the event brought to stakeholders.

“We wanted to explore the best practices in digital health and understand the ongoing challenges,” she said.

Data ecosystem

On the government side, Julian Rweju, the acting director of e-government services at the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U), admitted that poor administration, not lack of technical expertise, is the primary obstacle to safeguarding digital health data.

“We do have brains in the country. The problem is administration,” Rweju stated, adding that NITA-U is working to ensure health data handlers are registered and trained.

She outlined NITA-U’s strategy to build a secure legal and technological infrastructure that supports safe data exchange between health centres.

“The goal is to ensure that all digital health services operate within a protected and regulated data ecosystem,” she said.

Rweju outlined government plans to develop a legal data infrastructure to regulate how health data is shared between facilities, aiming to build trust in Uganda’s digital health ecosystem.

Panellists agreed that as AI becomes more embedded in healthcare systems, Uganda must prioritise the ethical collection, processing, and storage of patient data.

“Data is the new gold,” Dr. Mpaata reminded the audience, “but most of our health data isn’t even stored on the continent.”

The event emphasised the urgency for Uganda and Africa at large to establish robust data protection laws to safeguard citizens' health information and promote trust in digital health innovations.

As digital transformation sweeps through Africa’s healthcare landscape, the symposium concluded with a resounding message: AI-powered healthcare is the future, but without data protection, that future remains dangerously uncertain.