A Nigerian-born medical doctor and researcher, Dr. Nchebe-jah Raymond Iloanusi, has released groundbreaking findings that could reshape how artificial intelligence (AI), if applied in healthcare across the world.
Dr. Iloanusi, who studied medicine at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in Anambra State before advancing his career in New York, is currently an Assistant Professor at CUNY College of Staten Island, Wagner College, and Farmingdale State College in the United States. He presented his research at the prestigious ACM Conference on Digital Government Research.
His study revealed that widely used AI systems often deliver poorer outcomes for minority populations. According to the findings, AI algorithms assign minority patients risk scores up to 46% higher than equally sick majority patients, perform 14% worse in intensive care monitoring, and record significantly higher diagnostic error rates for underrepresented groups.
“This is not just about numbers; it is about lives,” Dr. Iloanusi warned. “When healthcare technology is built on data that excludes African populations, we risk exporting digital colonialism—where our people receive care recommendations from systems that never learned from our realities.”
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Experts have described the findings as a “global public health crisis,” noting that more than 90% of medical datasets used in AI exclude non-white populations. For Nigeria, where AI adoption is rising under the National AI Strategy, the research raises urgent questions about fairness and safeguards.
Despite the alarming data, Dr. Iloanusi offered solutions. He recommended mandatory bias testing before AI deployment, inclusion of diverse populations in health datasets, and Africa-driven design approaches.
“Africa must not be an afterthought in the age of AI,” he said. “If we build with our people in mind from the start, Nigeria can lead in creating equitable, ethical healthcare technologies.”
With analysis spanning over 60,000 patient records across 45 international studies, Dr. Iloanusi has positioned himself among the world’s leading voices on AI fairness in medicine. His work provides both a warning and a roadmap for Nigeria’s digital health future.
