Ghana's Public Health Act, AI Algorithms and the Vaccine Supply Chain in Ghana

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.