‘Africa’s Health Future Needs Action, Not Promises’

The executive director of eHealth Africa, Atef Fawaz, has said Africa’s healthcare challenges would only be solved through concrete action rather than endless discussions and unfulfilled promises.

Fawaz spoke in Abuja at the fourth edition of the Insight Learning Forum 2026, themed “Insight, Partnerships, Inclusion, Interoperability and Investment.”

He urged governments, development partners, private organisations and innovators to move beyond meetings and begin implementing measurable commitments that would improve healthcare delivery across the continent.

According to him, the forum was established to create a regional platform where stakeholders could exchange ideas, identify solutions and hold one another accountable for agreed actions.

“We need to reduce talking and meetings. We need to set plans, make commitments and act on what we commit to,” Fawaz said.

He noted that while similar health innovation platforms had gained momentum in Kigali and Nairobi, West Africa needed its own platform to drive collaboration, adding that Abuja was well positioned to play that role.

Fawaz said the organisers had introduced a commitment session where partners would publicly declare the actions they intended to take, adding that progress would be reviewed annually.

“We will be sharing progress next year. We will review what worked, what did not work and the lessons learned so that we continue improving,” he said.

He also praised the Federal Government for providing policy direction and increasing momentum in the health sector, saying stronger government participation had encouraged more organisations to support health reforms.

“The government sets the policies. The current administration has been moving fast, and that is why we are seeing greater commitment from government officials and partners,” he added.

Also speaking, the Deputy Director of Immunisation and Disease Control at the Gates Foundation, Yusuf Yusufari, said innovation must now go beyond pilot projects and be adapted to the realities of different communities.

“The time for simply carrying out pilot projects is over. Innovative solutions must respond to specific realities, whether geography, terrain or available resources,” he said.

Yusufari described eHealth Africa as one of the Foundation’s long-standing partners, saying it had played a key role in supporting polio eradication, routine immunisation, maternal and child health, as well as digital healthcare delivery in Northern Nigeria over the past 12 years.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Muyi Aina, said stronger partnerships, technology and quality data would be critical to expanding healthcare services across Nigeria.

“We need all hands on deck. We need partnerships with the private sector, innovation and the effective use of technology if we are to achieve the scale we need,” Aina said.

Representing the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, the Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Dr Peter Obi Adigwe, said technology had become a major driver of global economic growth and should be harnessed to transform healthcare in Nigeria.

He said the Federal Government had established the Office of the National Health Technology and Data Analytics to coordinate stakeholders and accelerate digital health innovation.

“Our goal is for Nigeria to emerge as number one in health technology in Africa while providing innovative healthcare solutions for Nigerians,” Adigwe said.

The Director of Partnerships and Programmes at eHealth Africa, Ota Akhigbe, said partnerships remained central to achieving sustainable healthcare outcomes.

She explained that governments, development partners, academic institutions, communities, women and young people must work together to ensure healthcare interventions reach underserved populations.

Akhigbe added that the forum’s commitment session would focus on improving data-driven decision-making, promoting interoperability, mobilising investments and ensuring that vulnerable communities benefited from better healthcare services.