MARTIN MAWAYA
NAIROBI—African universities have stepped to the forefront of the continent’s digital sovereignty debate, launching a coordinated drive to keep sensitive health and humanitarian data under African control as artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes global research and healthcare systems.
At the inauguration of the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Science (AUN-FOS) in Nairobi on Tuesday, academics and policymakers unveiled plans for African-led “health and humanitarian data spaces” designed to prevent the offshore transfer of sensitive personal information.
The initiative brings together universities from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Uganda and Liberia, supported by the Pan-African Parliament and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Speaking at Tangaza University, Pan-African Parliament President Chief Fortune Charumbira said universities were uniquely positioned to defend African interests in the digital era, describing them as “guardians of independent thought, innovation and identity”.
Under the proposed model, data, particularly health, genetic and humanitarian records would remain locally owned and stored, while still being accessible for research through secure, regulated systems aligned with FAIR and FAIR-OLR principles.
The approach has been shaped by lessons from past public health crises, including the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic, when African health data was frequently processed outside the continent, raising ethical and legal concerns.
Researchers involved in the programme said the model allows artificial intelligence tools to analyse data without transferring ownership, reducing the risk of privacy breaches and commercial exploitation.
The conference also highlighted collaboration with African engineers under the Value-driven Ownership of Data and Accessibility Network (VODAN), which has piloted data architectures that keep control with data subjects and local institutions.
Organisers said the university led initiative was aimed at filling a governance gap left by slow implementation of continental frameworks such as the AU’s Malabo Convention, particularly as AI accelerates faster than national laws.
Participants agreed that without strong academic leadership, Africa risked becoming a testing ground for AI systems trained on sensitive data without adequate consent, compensation or safeguards.
