Transforming African Healthcare Through AI-Driven Drug Delivery Technologies and Data Governance Frameworks: A Systematic Review

Background: African health care Systems are confronted by continuing infrastructure disparities or lack of capacity with regard to the workforce and unequal access to care. To address these challenges, artificial intelligence (AI) and data governance frameworks have become the change makers in the health sector, especially in the wake of the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (2014) which was used to provide the foundation upon which digital innovators look to bring solutions to life in the healthcare sector. Purpose: This paper explores the adoption of AI in the drug delivery technologies in African healthcare systems since 2014. It evaluates how AI can be used to optimize drug delivery, enhance the accuracy of treatment, and reduce healthcare access disparities as well as consider the implications of data governance systems to the ethical use of AI in drug management. Methods: 41 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2023 were reviewed on the basis of systematic literature review. Sources such as PubMed, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar were used to search on such topics as AI in drug delivery, data governance, and Africa. To ensure the rigor of methods, grey literature was not included. The review targeted the empirical literature about the application of AI-based drug delivery technologies in African nations. Findings: Publications on AI in drug delivery technologies have increased considerably due to increased interest and investment in the technology. AI has been demonstrated to enhance accuracy of drug delivery, operational efficiency and individualized treatment planning. Nevertheless, there are still huge challenges such as insufficient infrastructure, irregularity in the application of regulations and uncertainties around the ethical use of patient data. Conclusion: The study proposes that African governments, health ministries, and digital health stakeholders adopt specific interventions to help AI-based technologies deliver drugs. This will involve the creation of effective data governance systems, ethical management systems, and improvement of digital infrastructure. The development of AI in the African healthcare systems should be supported by future study based on longitudinal studies and comparisons of policies across the regions to facilitate sustainable integration of AI in African healthcare