Five African Nations Launch 'MUKET' Project to Strengthen AI-Enabled Early Warning for Arboviral Diseases
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Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda have launched the MUKET Project, a regional initiative aimed at developing an artificial intelligence-enabled early warning system for emerging and re-emerging arboviral diseases.
The initiative, convened by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) through its Research Directorate, brought together public health leaders and researchers from the five countries to align research priorities, assess technical capacity and establish a framework for regional collaboration.
The project, formally known as “Climate-Informed One Health Surveillance and AI-Enabled Predictive Early Warning for Emerging and Re-emerging Arboviral Diseases in Africa”, seeks to integrate human, animal, vector, genomic, climate and environmental data to improve the prediction and response to diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
During the virtual meeting Dr. Getachew Tollera, Deputy Director General of EPHI, emphasized the need for African countries to strengthen proactive health security measures against growing arboviral threats. He noted that these diseases can have broader consequences for maternal and child health, food security and economic resilience, while climate change, flooding and drought can further increase the risks.
Dr. Getachew stressed that the scale and complexity of these threats cannot be addressed by a single institution or country. He described MUKET as an African-led effort that will bring together local data, scientific expertise and technological capacity to address regional health challenges. He called for a shift from conventional surveillance toward “active health intelligence, outbreak anticipation and timely public health action”, enabling countries to identify risks earlier and respond before outbreaks escalate.
Prof. Aster Tsegaye from the Ministry of Health stressed that infectious diseases and their vectors cross national borders, making regional cooperation essential. She also called for stronger implementation of the One Health approach and greater involvement of social scientists in understanding community values, culture and behavior during public health responses.
The National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Technical Advisor and ccoordinator of the MUKET Project, Dr. Eshetu Gadisa from EPHI, presented the vision, rationale, objectives and strategic value of the initiative. His presentation highlighted the importance of climate-informed One Health surveillance and the use of artificial intelligence and predictive technologies to strengthen early detection and response to arboviral disease threats across Africa.
The MUKET Project will use artificial intelligence, machine learning and geographic information systems to develop models capable of forecasting the timing and location of arboviral disease risks. It will also strengthen laboratory and genomic capacity to characterize pathogens, trace viral lineages and detect emerging changes.