An app that allows rural doctors to seek advice remotely from experts won Africa's first prize recognising new technology that boosts health on the continent.

The award's main sponsor, French international public radio station RFI, said the 15,000-euro ($16,700) grant had been awarded in Dakar to Cheick Oumar Bagayoko, "a young Malian doctor and computer engineer".

Bagayoko's app Bogou beat more than 650 other candidates from francophone African countries for a prize that has also won support from tech giants such as Microsoft, Facebook and Orange.

The winning app is a "tele-expertise tool available via a computer connected to the Internet", RFI said in a statement.

"Bougou allows doctors working in remote areas to ask for advice from specialists from a distance."

Doctors can post details of a patient's problem to specialists logged into the secure app.

RFI said the prize was designed to "support the development of innovative digital services that facilitate access to information and health services in Africa".

 AFP