Following a first summit in Kigali, Rwanda in March 2023, the Senegalese capital, Dakar, will host on August 29, at the Radisson Blu hotel in Dakar, a follow-up summit on health technologies and innovation in the field of public health in Africa. This will be a high-level meeting bringing together government officials from several African countries, startups and investors.
Dakar, August 23, 2023, The Dakar Health Tech Hub Summit organized under the theme: Fast-tracking innovations in the field of public health in Africa, the Dakar summit, co-organised by the Ministry of Health and Social Action of Senegal, the Novartis Foundation, and the HealthTech Hub Africa, a health technology accelerator headquartered in Kigali, aims to help governments and start-ups collaborate on data- and technology-driven innovations that strengthen African health systems.
This meeting builds on the dialogue established in March this year in Kigali, Rwanda, with the launch of an Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG), aimed at facilitating multilateral discussions between public health administrators and innovators on policy solutions to accelerate technological innovations in public health systems in African countries.
Africa faces significant health challenges. While the continent bears 22% of the global burden of disease, it has only 3% of the world’s health workforce and less than 1% of global financial resources. Furthermore, Africa is projected to have around 374 million young people of working age by 2030, yet they currently make up 60% of the continent’s unemployed population. Technology has proven to be the most powerful tool for closing these gaps in health and employment.
The Dakar summit, Health Tech Africa, will bring together regulators, policy makers and innovators to review and validate findings arising from experiences in the implementation of technological solutions in the public health systems of African countries, showcase the results of digital health and e-health solutions implemented by the MSAS in Senegal and other African countries and startups, and discuss the sustainability and adoption of effective technological solutions for public health in Africa.
