Ghana's Public Health Act, AI Algorithms and the Vaccine Supply Chain in Ghana
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Date
2024-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research
Abstract
Objective: This analysis explored gaps between Ghana’s Public Health Act’s oversight provisions and on-the-ground implementation realities using an algorithmic accountability lens, assessing the sufficiency of current vaccine supply chain governance to address risks of unfairness and opacity from integrating artificial intelligence systems.
Method: A structured CRAC/IRAC framework was utilized integrating legal analysis of statutory duties under the Public Health Act, case law precedents, real-world examples, counterevidence, and multidisciplinary literature to holistically evaluate institutional capabilities and barriers for monitoring AI automation.
Results: The research found that while existing law confers broad transparency and equity mandates applicable to algorithmic tools for health officials under Sections 97, 108 and 169, practical challenges surrounding proprietary opacity of commercial AI and gaps in enforceability impede their fulfillment, necessitating updated regulations.
Scientific Contribution: This pioneers legal analysis of AI governance in Ghana while transferring analytical concepts like algorithmic fairness into the sociolegal domain, seeding an important emerging field. It provides a template for assessing automation impacts on rights empirically using mixed criteria.
Practical Significance: Scrutinizing legal shortcomings and barriers early while AI integration remains nascent aims positively influence application of guidelines protecting patients. It brings material questions of resource prioritization rooted in moral values of justice into sharper relief for key decision-makers shaping digitized futures.
Description
This article investigates gaps between Ghana's Public Health Act and the practical challenges of integrating AI into the vaccine supply chain, focusing on issues of fairness and transparency. The authors adopt an algorithmic accountability perspective to evaluate how current legal provisions address risks posed by AI, especially concerning the potential for bias and lack of transparency in automated systems.
Using a structured CRAC/IRAC framework, the study combines statutory analysis with real-world examples, legal precedents, and multidisciplinary research to assess Ghana’s institutional readiness for overseeing AI in health services. The research finds that while the Public Health Act includes mandates for transparency and equity that could apply to AI under certain sections (97, 108, and 169), practical challenges—such as the proprietary nature of commercial AI and enforceability limitations—hinder full compliance. These findings suggest that updates to the Act are necessary to ensure AI implementations align with health equity and transparency goals.
Scientifically, the article breaks new ground by applying concepts of algorithmic fairness within Ghana’s public health law, offering a model for assessing AI’s sociolegal impacts. Practically, the study’s early scrutiny of legal gaps in AI integration aims to guide policymakers on ethical and justice-based resource allocation in health technology, influencing the direction of AI governance in Ghana’s healthcare sector.
Keywords
Algorithmic accountability, Health equity, Vaccine supply chain, Public health law, AI governance
Citation
Addy, A., Asamoah-Atakorah, S., Mensah, G. B., Dodoo, S. W., & Asamoah-Atakorah, R. (2024). Ghana's Public Health Act, AI algorithms and Vaccine Distribution in Ghana. International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 6, 1-9.