What the Africa HealthTech Summit 2025 must mean for Africa’s health future

This week, Kigali is hosting the 4th Africa HealthTech Summit (AHTS 2025). With the theme “Connected Care: Scaling Innovation Towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” this gathering offers more than a conference; it is a crucible for shaping how health systems, communities, governments, and innovators converge around digital health. The conversations unfolding here won’t only shape what’s possible in the short term; they’ll test whether digital health in Africa is ready to move from ideas to actual systems change.

As someone whose work sits at the intersection of programme design, systems delivery, and strategic partnerships, I approach this summit not as a spectator but as a participant intent on grappling with the tough tensions and significant possibilities of health innovation on the continent. “Connected care” is not a technical ideal. It’s a moral one. When we talk about interoperability, APIs, or platforms, the actual goal is simpler and deeper. It’s about this: when a mother gives birth in a rural clinic, when a child’s immunisation record follows her seamlessly, when a community health worker in a remote ward can access a patient’s history in real time, those are the moments when technology protects dignity.

 “ The shift we need is from projects-for-use to systems-in-use, solutions that outlast funding cycles because they’re woven into how countries actually work.”

Digital health, at its best, is not about gadgets or dashboards. It is about giving people visibility, predictability, and a voice in how they access care. That’s why empathy must sit at the centre of every line of code we write, every app we deploy, and every partnership we form. When empathy is missing, innovation becomes abstraction, and we risk losing the people we are meant to serve.

At AHTS, I expect “interoperability” to be front and centre, and rightly so. But it’s not a checkbox we tick at the end of a project. It’s an ethic that needs to be embedded from the very beginning. Any solution we build must plug into national health systems, not stand apart from them. That means open APIs, modular designs that work with legacy infrastructure, co-design with government partners, and a clear path for capacity transfer. It’s how we move from short-term pilots to systems that actually stick. I’ve seen firsthand how solutions built in isolation may look good on paper, but they often break trust and stall momentum on the ground. The shift we need is from projects-for-use to systems-in-use, solutions that outlast funding cycles because they’re woven into how countries actually work.

Read also: When digital health learns to listen

The same logic applies to technology trends. Artificial intelligence, drones, and blockchain – these tools are powerful, but they are not impactful in themselves. The real question is, what difference will they make in maternal health, in vaccine delivery, in closing the gaps for zero-dose children? It’s not enough to generate data; we must demonstrate progress. I’ve long believed that outcome-based metrics should be the backbone of digital health financing, because when innovation is judged by measurable improvements in coverage, access, and efficiency, it earns its legitimacy.

This year’s summit also reminds us that partnerships are not optional; they are survival. No organisation, no matter how resourced or visionary, can solve systemic health challenges alone. AHTS is one of the few convenings where ministries, donors, investors, innovators, and private sector actors share the same room and sometimes, the same aspirations. But collaboration cannot be ceremonial. It requires clear roles, mutual accountability, and a willingness to pool not only money but also influence and insight.

As we gather in Kigali, I also hope we remember that inclusion is not achieved through invitations alone. Innovation must serve those often left out: young people, women, rural communities, and people in fragile contexts. The summit’s youth and ministerial dialogues are a step forward, but real progress will mean giving these groups control over funding, technology, and decision-making. Without moving power, we risk replicating old hierarchies in digital form.

And even though ambition drives innovation, pragmatism sustains it. Boldness without grounding can alienate the very systems we hope to transform. Countries across Africa differ widely in digital maturity and governance readiness; success lies in sequencing actions thoughtfully, layering new modules on what already works, iterating within real constraints, and building feedback loops that turn pilots into policies.

AHTS 2025 arrives at a hinge moment. Across the continent, digital health has reached an inflection point where proof-of-concept is no longer enough. We need proof of performance. If we can leave Kigali with stronger partnerships, tighter alignment across public and private sectors, and a collective commitment to person-centred, outcome-driven systems, then this convening will have lasting meaning.

Ultimately, Africa doesn’t need more conferences; it needs more transformation. Transformation is not a single leap but a sustained act of alignment: between people and purpose, between innovation and inclusion, and between courage and care. The future of health in Africa will be built by those who can connect competence with compassion, technology with trust, and ambition with accountability.

As I head into AHTS 2025, my hope is simple: that this moment of connected care will also be one of collective progress. Not for applause, but for the millions who still wait for health systems that work, data that speaks, and care that reaches them where they are.

Ota Akhigbe is the Director of Partnerships and Programs at eHealth Africa. She writes weekly on systems leadership, innovation, and the intersections of policy and impact in African health and development.