Stakeholders Push For Data-Driven Health System

Policymakers, health experts and innovators have called for a fundamental shift towards data-driven and locally led health systems, emphasising that Africa’s path to resilience will depend on how effectively it invests in research, innovation and evidence-based policy.

They noted that Africa’s health future will not only be shaped by funding levels but by how well countries on the continent use data and local expertise to design smarter systems that respond to their realities.

The stakeholders stated this at the 2025 Gatefield Health Summit in Abuja where they stressed the urgent need to strengthen health data infrastructure and invest in innovations grounded in African contexts.

A programme associate at Corona Management Systems (CMS, Adaeze Eche-George, said resilient systems are data-driven, adding that when technology, evidence and human insight work together, countries can deliver smarter, faster and more equitable health outcomes.

“Technology-driven, locally led strategies enhance accountability, efficiency, and long-term sustainability,” Eche-George said.

She said the organisation through the Health Insurance Management Information System (CHIMIS) – a digital platform improving efficiency in health insurance administration, is enhancing data visibility, accountability and sustainable financing in Nigeria’s health sector.

In a session on tobacco endgame strategies, experts stressed the need for evidence-based policies over one-size-fits-all approaches.

They warned that adopting generic global frameworks without tocal adaptation risks undermining Africa’s health policy progress.

“The endgame is not mutually exclusive to tobacco control – without effective control, implementing the endgame is nearly impossible,” Dr Catherine Egbe of the South African Medical Research Council said.

Speaking on nutrition and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which are identified as twin threats to population health, a professor of medicine, Felicia Anumah said Nigeria now has 19.8 million malnourished children – the highest in Africa – while obesity rates continue to climb, creating a “double burden” of undernutrition and overnutrition.

A health practitioner and scholar, Dr Vivian Kwaghe described antimicrobial resistance as “a man-made crisis,” calling for a coordinated surveillance across human, animal and environmental health systems.