NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 23 – Rwandan health-tech startup Lifesten Health is positioning itself at the centre of Africa’s shift toward preventive healthcare, deploying AI-driven tools to help users monitor and manage their wellbeing more proactively.
The company’s mobile app uses artificial intelligence for diagnostics and offers personalised wellness routines and gamified challenges designed to nudge users into healthier habits. It also incorporates transdermal optical imaging — a technology that scans a user’s face to generate indicators such as blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels in under 30 seconds.
Users can earn points by completing health-related tasks, which they can later redeem for various services on the platform.
“Transdermal optical imaging has been used in Asia and North America and is now gaining traction in African health systems through innovators,” CEO Stephen Ogweno said.
Lifesten recently showcased its platform at the Africa Health Summit in Kigali, where ministers, global health leaders, technologists, and investors discussed strengthening preventive healthcare systems on the continent. The startup also co-led sessions on the Be He@lthy Be Mobile initiative, a joint World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) programme focused on tackling noncommunicable diseases through digital tools such as SMS and mobile apps.
According to Ogweno, many delegates viewed Lifesten as a practical demonstration of how AI-powered daily routines, mental-health check-ins, fitness challenges, nutrition tracking, and support communities can be packaged into a single, user-friendly preventive-care platform.
