Aafiya combines a clinically validated AI engine with HPCSA-registered physicians to deliver signed consultation notes and e-prescriptions. The software is built. The next phase is clinical validation and commercial launch.
Aafiya is developed with input from leading healthcare professionals, regulatory experts, and technology partners.
Every consultation signed by registered physicians
SA data protection compliance, Cape Town hosting
Designed for Medical Device Act compliance
FHIR R4 standard, ready for Fund accreditation
Seeking HPCSA-registered physicians with expertise in primary care, public health, HIV/TB medicine, and chronic disease management to guide clinical protocols and validation studies.
Partnering with regulatory experts in SAHPRA compliance, Medical Schemes Act, and National Health Insurance regulations to ensure full legal and ethical compliance.
Early validation partners: In discussions with medical aid schemes, academic health centers, and public health departments to conduct clinical validation trials starting Q3 2026.
The public health system has lost more than 12,745 doctors and 58,897 nurses since 2013. Over 80% of doctors serve just 15% of the population. The gap is accelerating.
0.31 doctors per 1,000 people vs. the WHO minimum of 1.0. Over 23,400 SA health professionals now work abroad in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
World's largest HIV burden (7.8M people). 6th highest TB rate globally. Rapidly growing hypertension and diabetes epidemic. Non-SA AI models are not trained on this syndemic.
Only 15% of the population (9M people) hold medical aid. 50M+ South Africans rely on an overwhelmed public sector with no digital primary care alternative.
Aafiya is not telemedicine. It is a physician-supervised AI care delivery system purpose-built for South Africa's disease burden, languages, and regulatory requirements.
Two-stage safety screen in under 500ms. Deterministic emergency rules engine + LLM classifier. Routes EMERGENCY cases to 112/10177 before clinical intake begins.
Structured clinical assessment in all 11 SA official languages, including image upload for dermatology and wounds. Fine-tuned on SA disease patterns: HIV/TB, NCDs, and EML.
Every AI output is reviewed by an HPCSA-registered physician before it reaches the patient. No AI diagnosis is ever delivered autonomously. Review averages 3–8 minutes.
Signed consultation note and e-prescription via WhatsApp or SMS — free at point of care. E-prescriptions route to Dis-Chem, Clicks, and independent pharmacy networks.
The timing to build and scale Aafiya has never been better — and the window is closing.
The National Health Insurance Act establishes a single-purchaser primary care system targeting 50M beneficiaries. Aafiya is architected to be NHI accredited by 2027–2030.
SAHPRA's Call-Up Notices for AI clinical decision support have not yet been issued (as of 2026). First movers who validate and register now will have a durable regulatory head-start.
67 telemedicine startups operate in South Africa, but none combine AI-assisted intake, mandatory physician sign-off, free-to-patient delivery, and NHI-ready data architecture.
The platform is engineered and feature-complete. Eight major capabilities delivered across two development waves. The investable question is no longer whether the software can be built — it can. It’s whether Aafiya can convert a built platform into validated, reimbursable, regulated care delivery.
Two-stage pipeline under 500ms: 13 deterministic emergency rules + LLM classifier. EMERGENCY, URGENT, ROUTINE, and SELF_CARE outcomes. Auto-generates the SAHPRA regulatory evidence file.
Full CDM module for hypertension, diabetes, HIV, and TB. Automated recall scheduling, medication adherence tracking, and integrated care plans covering 12M+ SA patients.
Image upload directly in clinical intake for dermatology, wounds, and eye conditions. Physicians review images alongside AI assessment — no separate dermatology referral needed.
Consultation results, e-prescriptions, and appointment reminders delivered via WhatsApp in 4 languages. SMS fallback for low-bandwidth and feature phones.
PathCare and Ampath results delivered directly to patient records via HL7 FHIR. Physicians see results in the same case view — no manual re-entry, no fax.
Apple HealthKit and Android Health Connect support Samsung, Garmin, Fitbit, and Xiaomi devices. Blood pressure, glucose, heart rate, and sleep data flows into CDM care plans.
TB-specific triage pathway with chest X-ray AI analysis and GeneXpert integration — targeting South Africa's world-high TB burden in the communities that need it most.
Expanded from 5 to all 11 official SA languages — clinical intake, triage, consent flows, and SMS prescriptions. Speech-to-text in every language. Aafiya now addresses the entire SA population.
Aafiya's five-layer architecture handles the full clinical workflow — from patient intake to pharmacy delivery — on SA-resident cloud infrastructure (POPIA-compliant).
Track Aafiya's progress toward clinical validation, regulatory approval, and commercial launch.
1,000 consultations, peer-reviewed publication
Medical Device Act compliance, regulatory approval
3-5 medical aid schemes, 50 physicians, 10K consultations
Full commercial launch, Series A preparation
The platform is built. Aafiya is raising R35–55M to clinically validate, gain SAHPRA authorisation, and commercially launch South Africa’s first physician-supervised AI primary care platform.