Dear subscriber,
Africa is building a new layer of health intelligence infrastructure. The question is how unified health data could help pharma manufacturers anticipate demand and scale production when the next pandemic strikes.
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
A new continental outbreak intelligence platform will help African pharmaceutical manufacturers anticipate demand and manufacture medical products faster during the next pandemic. The World Health Organization has launched an integrated health data platform to forecast outbreaks and strengthen pandemic preparedness.
The Preparedness Data Exchange brings together surveillance, climate, laboratory and workforce data to help detect threats earlier and coordinate faster responses.
There is growing emphasis on building continental health data infrastructure, a move that strengthens pharma demand predictability. In January, the Africa CDC launched the Central Data Repository to consolidate public health data across the continent.
Our take: A central data system is an enabling intervention for local pharma manufacturing but a lot of investment is still needed…Read more (2 min)
Caroline Mbindyo, CEO of Amref Health Innovations in Kenya, says AI has great potential to strengthen health systems in Africa, especially in last-mile healthcare delivery. However, one of the biggest setbacks in deploying these technologies is focusing on developing the technology without understanding the problem it is meant to solve.
“At Amref, we do not begin by asking how AI will help. We begin by asking what the priority problems in communities are, and then consider whether AI can help solve them,” says Mbindyo. “Many AI tools are built elsewhere and brought into African countries looking for problems to solve. That approach does not make sense.”
She argues that communities must be involved in developing AI solutions because health challenges differ across regions. The way a maternal health problem appears in one county may look very different in another, making it unrealistic to expect a single technology to work everywhere.
Read the full Q&A…Read more (2 min)
Digital maternal health solutions dominated African health-tech funding in February 2026. A total of seven companies raised $3.4 million. Eyone led with $1.7 million, followed by Mobihealth International with $800,000. DeepEcho and Cherehani Labs secured $300,000 each, while Fertitude, Goal 3 and ZanaAfrica each received about $100,000.
East and West Africa led February 2026 funding with three companies each. East Africa was represented by Cherehani Labs, ZanaAfrica and Goal 3, while West Africa had Mobihealth International, Fertitude and Eyone. North Africa appeared once through Morocco-based DeepEcho.
Four of the funded companies; Eyone, DeepEcho, Goal 3, Cherehani Labs are led by male founders while the remaining three are led by female founders.
Our take: While digital health covers all areas, maternal and reproductive health are clearly drawing targeted funding…Read more (2 min)
____________________
South Africa to manufacture long-acting HIV prevention shot Lenacapavir
Events
🗓️ Register for the Africa Health Business in Kenya (April 21)
🗓️ Participate in World Health Summit in Kenya (April 27)
🗓️ Join the 10th Healthcare Innovation Summit Africa in SA (May 27)
Jobs
🧑⚕️Be the Medical & Regulatory Lead at BioVana Research (Kenya)
🧑⚕️Apply to be the Procurement Officer at FHI360 (Mozambique)
🧑⚕️Join Jhpiego as a Maternal and Newborn Health Officer (Malawi)
Various
💉 Uganda extends successful malaria intervention to older children
💉 Kenya rolls out AI in community healthcare
💉 African Development Bank funds health resilience in Southern Africa
Seen on LinkedIn
Snider Mugese, a health innovator, says, “Women make up roughly 70% of the global healthcare workforce and are often the primary healthcare decision-makers in families. They are innovators trying to solve some of the continent’s most persistent health challenges but they remain underrepresented in building the companies that shape its future.”