The government of Rwanda is using health data, digital platforms and artificial intelligence to move healthcare decision-making closer to real time, as African health leaders gathered in Kigali for the opening of the fifth Africa HealthTech Summit.
The three-day summit, running from September 30 to October 2, has brought together more than 5,900 delegates, including policymakers, investors, technology companies, health professionals and innovators, to examine how intelligent health systems can improve healthcare delivery across Africa.
At the centre of Rwanda’s approach is the use of data collected across the health system from community health workers and health facilities to national referral hospitals to identify risks, monitor patients and guide the allocation of resources.
Speaking at the summit’s opening, Rwanda’s Minister of State for Health, Dr Yvan Butera, said the country can now use information from communities to understand where problems are emerging and respond accordingly.
“From my office, I am able to see the risk of what is happening, where we have challenges and what needs to be done,” Butera said.
He added “The system is backed by Rwanda’s Health Intelligence Center, launched in 2025 to consolidate health information from across the country and turn it into evidence for policy and operational decisions”.
The centre brings together data covering primary healthcare, disease surveillance, emergency response, health financing, health workers, supply chains and civil registration. Its architecture allows information to move from community health workers to national systems, where it can be analysed through dashboards and other digital tools.
That infrastructure is increasingly being paired with artificial intelligence and digital applications.
Rwanda has developed e-Buzima, which digitises patients’ medical records and allows information to follow patients across health facilities, while e-Banguka supports real-time ambulance tracking and dispatch.
The shift has implications beyond patient care. With health financing under pressure across Africa, access to timely data can help governments identify service gaps, monitor performance and determine where limited resources are most needed.
The summit is therefore placing financing alongside technology. Discussions are focusing on how African health-tech companies can move from pilot projects to systems capable of operating at national and continental scale, while attracting sustainable investment.
Rwanda’s model also reflects a wider push to connect previously separate parts of the health system. Instead of treating community healthcare, hospitals, emergency services, financing and supply chains as isolated operations, the digital architecture is designed to allow information from one part of the system to inform decisions elsewhere.
This is particularly important for early detection and prevention. Real-time data can support early-warning systems for disease outbreaks, improve resource allocation, reduce service bottlenecks and help health authorities respond to emerging challenges before they become larger crises.
For African countries facing shortages of health workers, financing constraints and growing demand for healthcare, the challenge is now moving beyond developing technology.
The focus at the Kigali summit is increasingly on whether those technologies can be scaled, financed and integrated into national health systems and ultimately whether the data they generate can translate into faster decisions and better outcomes for patients.
