The Africa health system drowns in paperwork and starves for data -controlled solutions. In the middle of this discomfort, Adeolu Arogundade, a leading voice in Africa’s digital health movement, is here in order to give the digital efficiency into the sick health care of the continent and to bring technology to the backbone of a reformed system.
At Gitex Africa, the largest tech trade fair in the continent from April 14th to 16th in Marrakech, Arogundade will take a large number of health innovators to challenge status quo, and present courageous ideas to analyze and show the current health system exactly where technology can fill the gaps.
Arogundade is President of Society for Telemedicine and EHEALTH in Nigeria (Sftehin), a non -governmental, non -profit organization. His work focuses on AI-powered diagnostics, telemedicine and data analysis all on making health care more intelligent, faster and accessible.
In his view, Tech is a tool that political decision -makers and industry leaders have slowly recorded despite the Mega potential. “African managers and political decision -makers cannot jump on the area of
“You have to weigh up every new digital instrument in order to recognize sustainability, scalability and adaptability to the peculiarity of the environment.”
Many solutions imported from industrialized countries met Africa’s unique – almost bumpy – health areas. Research to support the effectiveness of digital interventions remain thin. And past experiences with donor-financed pilot projects-as soon as the money has dried up-left a bitter aftertaste.
But the real Achilles sales are the infrastructure. Digital health requires more than software. It requires additional performance, wide connectivity and top -class staff.
These are luxury goods in large parts of Africa, where the health facilities still work with paper documents and one and outer flow networks. “The elephant in the room,” said Arodundade, “is the infrastructure for poor information and communication technology (ICT) in many African countries.” The challenge is not only acceptance, but also the adaptation – the introduction of Tech solutions that work despite these setbacks.
Interoperability could be the golden ticket. Arogundade attracts parallels to the America’s march for digital health, where a mixture of incentives and regulatory nudges finally advanced the sector. Africa, he said, had to follow a similar path.
“The journey from a paper -based system to a paperless system takes time and patience,” he explains. Success stories become the key to being proof that digital tools are not only theoretical miracles, but also inexpensive, life-saving necessities. Governments must also contribute to this and offer incentives for digitization and at the same time ensure that the technology is accessible beyond the urban hubs.
Artificial intelligence and blockchain – a seductive mating – promise to improve the provision of health care. AI-controlled diagnostics could place specialist knowledge in the hands of local health employees, while Blockchain ensures that the medical documents manipulate and remain portable. Without thoughtful implementation, however, such innovations could rather deepen the digital gap than to bridge them.
“While these digital tools have the potential to improve health access, they can also expand the existing digital gap,” warns Arogundade. The key is intuitive in the design of the intuitive users, who supports affordable and by local support networks.
Arodundade insists that the future is one of those who are willing to experiment. Africa’s youth turn off the status quo: You have already bothered fintech, music and film. The health care is certainly next in the line.
However, progress will not be a happy accident. It requires that a favorable infrastructure, solid investments and intelligent regulation are determined. Each solution is tailored to local realities that are not loaned blindly from the West. “We shouldn’t be afraid to try things out differently and learn from our experiences,” he said. “We have to document our experiences and share knowledge so that we can overmate the obstacles that we see today.”
The future of digital health in Africa is not a distant possibility. The transformation is in full swing with technology in the heart of the strategy.
