Blog post -
South African innovation at the heart of global health transformation
At an event in London on 4 November 2025, Vitality and Google announced a global partnership to launch Vitality AI. This new platform will integrate Google Cloud's advanced AI and data analytics, with Vitality’s vast health datasets and behaviour-change expertise, to transform how millions worldwide understand and manage their health.
The announcement of Vitality AI marks a major leap forward in personalised, preventative healthcare on a global scale. For South Africans, a remarkable aspect is that this innovation is already here.
The foundation of this innovation lies in Discovery Health’s Personal Health Pathways (PHP) integrated with Vitality – a homegrown solution that has already transformed the health and lifestyle journeys of hundreds of thousands of South Africans. Built on Google Cloud Platform, PHP has delivered hyper-personalised health recommendations to over 433,000 members, driving more than 2.7 million exercise actions, 460,000 health actions, and over R35 million in rewards.
Crucially, PHP has proven its ability to reach those who need it most: 65% of activations are from members with chronic conditions, and 41% from previously health-unengaged individuals. Early data shows a 5.7x increase in cancer screenings, a 2.3x rise in GP visits, and a 17.3x uplift in digital health actions – clear evidence of PHP’s power to close care gaps and enable early detection and prevention.
The launch of Vitality AI developed with Google represents the next evolution of this success. It enhances the intelligence, speed, and scalability of PHP’s personalisation engine – without changing its core design. It’s a South African innovation now being exported to the world, with the potential to extend healthy life expectancy by up to eight years and reshape the global health and insurance landscape.
Watch the recording of the launch of Vitality AI on YouTube or read the global announcement here.
Other photos and assets can be downloaded in the Vitality AI toolkit in the global newsroom.
