African health-tech innovators, investors and governments have been challenged to move beyond promising pilot projects and build technology-driven health systems capable of reaching millions of people across the continent.
The call was made on September 30 as the fifth Africa HealthTech Summit opened in Kigali, bringing together policymakers, investors, technology companies, health experts and development partners to examine how intelligent health systems can transform healthcare delivery.
The three-day summit, running from September 30 to October 2 under the theme “Wellness for All: Powered by Intelligent Health Systems,” is placing particular emphasis on turning innovation and investment into solutions that can operate at scale.
Jean-Philbert Nsengimana, Chairman of the Africa HealthTech Summit, said the value of the gathering should ultimately be measured by what happens after conversations between entrepreneurs, investors and institutions.
“What matters is those conversations lead to impact.”
Nsengimana pointed to an investment deal that emerged from connections made through the health-tech ecosystem, saying discussions between an investor and an African company eventually translated into a $3.1 million investment.
He said organisers are now taking a more deliberate approach to helping companies grow, including scale-up training, investor engagement and structured meetings between entrepreneurs and potential financiers.
The summit chairman said Africa’s next challenge is to build health systems that can use technology to anticipate disease outbreaks, strengthen data systems, improve payments and make healthcare more accessible.
He argued that while Africa has produced major technology companies in other sectors, the continent still needs health-tech businesses capable of reaching the scale of billion-dollar enterprises.
Gates Foundation: Technology must reach communities
Boniface Njenga, Deputy Director for Africa at the Gates Foundation, told delegates that technological progress will have little meaning if it does not translate into better outcomes for ordinary people.
His remarks placed particular emphasis on preventable deaths, infectious diseases and the need to ensure that investments in artificial intelligence and digital technologies address Africa’s specific challenges.
“Advancing does not matter if it does not reach the people it must reach.”
The Gates Foundation official highlighted the scale of the organisation’s planned investment in artificial intelligence, saying $1 billion will be committed over the next two years to expand global access to AI.
Of that amount, $400 million is expected to go into healthcare, while 10% will support work involving local languages, reflecting an effort to ensure AI systems are relevant beyond English-speaking and Global North markets.
Boniface said the foundation’s broader approach is also increasingly focused on Africa, with the organisation preparing for a future in which a substantial share of its spending is directed toward the continent.
He said the priority should remain diseases that can be prevented or treated, including malaria and tuberculosis, while ensuring that innovation reaches mothers, children, health workers and communities.
WHO: African solutions must be built for African realities
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the African region is the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi, also urged governments, innovators, investors and development partners to rethink how digital health solutions are designed and deployed.
The organisation warned that technology alone cannot compensate for weak health systems or replace accountability, calling for digital transformation that is rooted in local realities.
“Our solutions must be designed with Africans, governed by Africans, and built for African realities.”
The WHO speaker challenged governments to create the right conditions for innovation, innovators to focus on pressing health problems, and investors to take proven technologies beyond the pilot stage.
The emphasis reflects a growing concern across Africa that numerous digital-health projects demonstrate potential during pilot phases but struggle to secure the financing, infrastructure and institutional support needed to reach national or regional scale.
From innovation to systems
Speakers at the summit repeatedly returned to the question of scale: how technology can move from individual projects to interconnected systems capable of serving entire populations.
Potential applications include using artificial intelligence and data to predict disease outbreaks, helping health workers make faster decisions, directing medicines and other resources to areas of greatest need, and improving access to care in underserved communities.
The summit comes at a time when governments and development institutions are facing pressure to deliver more healthcare with limited resources, while Africa’s digital economy continues to expand.
For Nsengimana, the opportunity is to ensure that health technology follows the same trajectory by turning promising ideas into sustainable businesses and systems.
The $3.1 million investment cited at the summit offers one example of how connections made through health-tech platforms can translate into financing.
The larger challenge now is whether such investments can be multiplied to create companies and health systems capable of serving millions.
As delegates gather in Kigali through October 2, the central question is therefore no longer simply whether Africa can develop health technology, but whether that technology can be financed, institutionalised and deployed at the scale required to improve healthcare outcomes across the continent.
