When Tunisian doctor Maya Fakhfakh began losing patients to late-stage, preventable diseases in her very first month of practice, she didn’t just grieve , she started asking questions. Those questions led to MednTech, a non-profit leveraging artificial intelligence to address one of Africa’s most urgent yet solvable health challenges: cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers we know caused by HPV, it can be caught early through screening. And yet 94% of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where overstretched health systems, limited resources, and deep-rooted stigma keep too many women from ever getting checked. MednTech was founded to change that.
The organisation’s solution is elegant in its simplicity. Using a WHO-recommended technique called Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA), where applying vinegar to the cervix reveals precancerous changes. MednTech built an AI-powered mobile app that helps healthcare providers interpret results accurately. Photos taken before and after the process are analysed by the algorithm, removing the subjectivity that comes with an exam many providers aren’t fully trained to read. Since most providers already carry smartphones, the barrier to adoption is low and once validated, the technology can scale without proportionally increasing costs.
But the work doesn’t stop at the scan. During screenings, providers use the captured images to walk women through what they’re seeing, explaining the anatomy, demystifying the process, and creating space for questions. Women who once feared the procedure leave reassured and informed, often becoming community ambassadors who encourage others to get checked. “You can have the best AI solution out there,” Maya reflects, “but if nobody trusts you, nobody will come.”
Maya also understands that technology cannot travel without local partnership. Operating in Rwanda with expansion into Tanzania underway, the team has learned that scaling across African contexts means embedding into existing clinical pathways, working closely with local organisations and governments, and ensuring that every woman screened has a clear referral route if she needs one. “If you’re just screening women without access to treatment,” she says plainly, “you haven’t really solved anything.”
Behind all of it is a volunteer-driven, international team spanning Tunisia, Canada, USA, Ghana, Nepal, India, and beyond; united across time zones by a shared belief in the mission. During a four-week pilot, they screened 260 women. It’s a number that represents not just reach, but lives potentially redirected.
MednTech is proof that the most powerful innovations aren’t always the most complicated. Sometimes, it’s about meeting people where they are, with tools they already have, and the trust to make it matter.
