Cognitive sovereignty and decolonial public health
Reclaiming epistemic authority in the global AI era
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22078413 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel Kakraba (0000-0002-6362-5126, Tulane University), Edmund Fosu Agyemang (0000-0001-8124-4493, Tulane University), Sudesh K Srivastav (Tulane University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Pages | 1785170-1785170 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1785170 |
| PMID | 41971282 |
| OpenAlex | W7140882029 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes critical infrastructure for global health, it reproduces colonial patterns of extraction, mining data from the Global South to train models owned by the Global North. While international bodies like the WHO emphasize “ethical AI,” they often overlook the structural violence of this digital colonialism. This perspective argues that true health equity requires more than bias mitigation; it demands cognitive sovereignty: the right of communities to govern not just their data but also the epistemic logic, interpretive frameworks, and algorithmic reasoning of the systems that analyze it. Drawing from Indigenous data governance principles (OCAP/CARE) and concrete implementation cases from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Latin America, we demonstrate how cognitive sovereignty extends beyond data sovereignty to encompass control over knowledge production itself. By anchoring this political vision in specific technical architectures, federated learning, and community-led surveillance, we can move from extractive “AI for good” to a decolonial future of autonomous health intelligence. Recent cases from Kenya's AI health deployments and pathogen genomics illustrate both the urgency and feasibility of this transformation
Big data · Cognition · Corporate governance · Global governance · Indigenous · Politics · Sovereignty · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Global Health and Surgery · Global Security and Public Health
The Brazilian health system
Power to the People
Global health security
Operationalizing the Care and Fair Principles for Indigenous data futures
The Care Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
Years of Decoloniality
Rewriting the byline
Epistemic disobedience–Undoing coloniality in global health research
Facilitators and barriers to community-led monitoring of health programs
Data sovereignty
Overcoming Public Health “Surveillance”
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |