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Africa's increasing mobile phone usage has driven a wave of digital health innovations such as symptom-checking apps. However, these tools alone cannot address the continent's healthcare access challenges. In a guest article, Mike Adeyemi Lawal of Médecins Sans Frontières argues that poor infrastructure, critical shortages of health workers and systemic inequities remain the real barriers.
Despite challenges in rural connectivity and the limitations of certain apps, meaningful technology can still be effective when tailored to the local context and integrated with health systems. Promising examples include SMS vaccine reminders and decision-support apps for community health workers.
Lawal emphasises that digital tools usually strengthen rather than replace real healthcare systems across Africa.
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By Mike Adeyemi-Lawal, Malaria and Infectious Diseases Specialist Advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen a rise in digital health innovations, and Africa is no exception. From symptom-checking apps to telemedicine platforms, developers and donors alike have embraced mobile technology as a silver bullet for Africa’s health challenges. After all, mobile penetration across the continent is high, and digital solutions promise scalability, affordability, and reach. Despite the hype, mobile health apps alone are not and cannot be the answer to Africa’s deeply rooted health access problems.
In most African countries, access to healthcare is not a technology problem; it's a structural one. The average doctor-to-patient ratio in these countries is about 2.6, which is significantly lower than the WHO's recommended minimum of 10 doctors per 10,000 patients for adequate healthcare coverage. Hence, millions of this population face barriers to care not because they can’t find health information online, but because there are too few health workers, too few functioning facilities, and too many systemic inequities.
Although mobile phone use is growing, many people, especially in rural areas where over half of Africa’s 1.4 billion people live, still lack the skills to use them effectively. On top of that, weak network coverage and unreliable electricity make it even harder to rely on these tools. Also, most health apps do not connect well with public health systems. They are usually funded by donors, focused on one disease, and limited to short-term pilots. Many are launched with excitement but abandoned soon after. Without links to the broader healthcare system, these apps often end up unused and ineffective.
So, should we stop innovating? Absolutely not. What Africa needs is not less innovation but more meaningful and context-specific innovation. Tools that work with health workers, not in place of them. Systems that strengthen care delivery from the ground up, that reach beyond the smartphone screen to where the patients are. In recent times, we have seen innovative and context-specific tools like SMS-based reminders that have improved vaccine uptake in rural clinics. Community health worker apps that assist with decision-making, referrals, and stock tracking have also been impactful.
While health apps have an important role in healthcare delivery, they are not the fix for health inequity in Africa. Real access comes from trained personnel, adequate infrastructure, political will, and sustained investment. Technology must support, not replace, that foundation.