eHealth Africa’s Renewable Energy for Primary Health Care initiative has been recognized at AidEx 2026 for its contribution to strengthening sustainable and resilient primary healthcare infrastructure in Nigeria.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND | OCTOBER 2026: eHealth Africa’s Renewable Energy for Primary Health Care (RE4PHC) initiative has been named Sustainable Initiative of the Year at AidEx 2026, recognizing its contribution to strengthening reliable energy access and healthcare delivery across primary healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
Funded by UNICEF Nigeria and implemented by eHealth Africa in collaboration with government institutions and other stakeholders, RE4PHC has solarized 238 primary healthcare facilities across 12 Nigerian states.
The intervention addresses a critical but often overlooked health systems challenge: reliable electricity. Solar power at participating facilities supports essential services including vaccine cold storage, diagnostics, maternal and child healthcare, and round-the-clock service delivery.
Accepting the award, eHealth Africa Executive Director Atef Fawaz said the recognition represents more than the technology installed at participating facilities.
“What makes this important to us is not simply the installation of solar infrastructure. It is what reliable energy makes possible for health workers, patients, families, and communities.”
The recognition reinforces eHealth Africa’s commitment to building locally grounded, sustainable systems that strengthen healthcare delivery and continue creating value beyond individual project cycles.
In its 2026 Mid-Year Impact Report, eHealth Africa highlighted how its support for polio vaccination campaigns contributed to reaching over 23 million children in the first half of the year. Behind this milestone are sustained efforts to identify hard-to-reach communities, improve campaign planning, and track vaccination teams, including in areas affected by insecurity.
Reaching communities affected by insecurity, difficult terrain, and systemic barriers remains a significant challenge. For many families, accessing essential health services can mean traveling several kilometers, sometimes across rivers, to reach the nearest health facility. Other communities may be cut off entirely or inadequately captured in service delivery plans, increasing the risk that children are missed during critical health interventions such as immunization.
For these children, the risk of contracting life-threatening, vaccine-preventable diseases is often shaped by circumstances beyond their control, including where they live and the security challenges affecting their communities.
In May 2026, UNICEF reported that an estimated 2.2 million children in Nigeria had missed immunization, highlighting persistent barriers such as misinformation, distance, and limited access to health services. Children living in urban slums, border communities, migrant settlements, riverine villages, and conflict-affected areas are particularly vulnerable to being missed.
Abubakar Shehu, who currently leads eHealth Africa’s Disease Prevention and Monitoring (DPM) interventions, corroborated this, saying, “People living close to a health facility can access immunization services directly at the facility. Those beyond two kilometers may be reached through outreach services, while communities beyond five kilometers may require mobile outreach.”
Beyond the difficulty of reaching these communities, planning immunization campaigns can be particularly tedious, especially when relying on traditional approaches to developing microplans and assigning vaccination teams to different locations. Before the introduction of digital tools, Nigeria’s immunization program relied heavily on existing community structures, particularly in northern Nigeria, to support campaign planning.
According to Abubakar, “Northern Nigeria has a well-organized traditional leadership structure that extends down to the community level. No matter how small a community is, it usually has a recognized leader who is connected to the broader traditional leadership system.”
While these traditional structures remain essential to community engagement and campaign planning, digital solutions such as the Geospatial Tracking System (GTS) and PlanFeld are helping strengthen the accuracy of settlement data, improve planning, and increase visibility into vaccination campaign activities.
The strategic deployment of these digital health solutions is helping immunization programs identify and map communities, improve campaign planning, track vaccination teams, strengthen last-mile vaccine delivery, and ultimately reach more children, including those in hard-to-reach communities.
Speaking about how eHealth Africa has consistently supported polio immunization campaigns across northern Nigeria, Abubakar explained that the organization initially mapped communities in areas considered at high risk for polio transmission.
“We mapped these locations extensively, collecting data including the geolocation of settlements, habitation status, accessibility, and information about community leadership and public amenities such as schools, markets, churches, and mosques.”
This mapping provides detailed information that supports more accurate and efficient campaign planning. “With geospatial technology and GIS population modeling, we can generate more precise information to support planning.”
He explained that a settlement may administratively belong to a particular Local Government Area (LGA), but geographical barriers may make it difficult to access from within that LGA. Geospatial information can help identify an alternative route through neighboring LGAs, allowing vaccination teams to reach these settlements more easily.
“Geospatial technology has also helped us monitor vaccination activities and understand where vaccination teams have visited and where they have not,” he added.
The deployment of digital tools begins at the planning stage, with continuous data validation carried out in collaboration with relevant partners, community leaders, and local government officials to ensure settlement information remains accurate and up to date. This process is particularly important in determining whether settlements are inhabited, especially in areas affected by population displacement.
“A settlement may be inhabited today and deserted tomorrow because people have been displaced. Regular validation helps us understand where communities are and how best to plan to reach them,” Abubakar explained.
According to Abubakar, the validated settlement data is subsequently integrated into PlanFeld, a digital microplanning solution developed by eHealth Africa. By helping vaccination teams develop more accurate campaign plans, allocate workloads, and identify settlements to be covered, PlanFeld can reduce the time required for microplanning from days to minutes.
This was further emphasized by the Project Manager, Nnenna Ohaeri, who highlighted the transition from hand-drawn maps to GIS-based maps as another significant improvement.
“This allows us to more accurately identify settlements, including communities that might otherwise be missed,” Nnenna explained. “As vaccination teams are deployed, we can confirm that they are going to the correct settlements and help ensure that communities and children are not missed.”
The transition from manual planning to digital microplanning, supported by GIS-based maps, improved workload allocation, and more accurate monitoring of daily campaign activities, is helping vaccination teams identify and reach settlements that might otherwise be missed. These improvements also save time and help optimize limited resources within Nigeria’s healthcare system.
Beyond geospatial tracking and digital microplanning, eHealth Africa also supports immunization systems through Vaccine Direct Delivery (VDD) and the solarization of primary healthcare facilities. VDD supports the timely transportation of vaccines to last-mile health facilities under appropriate temperature conditions, while solarization provides reliable electricity for vaccine refrigerators, helping maintain cold-chain integrity and preserve vaccine potency.
Reaching over 23 million children through polio vaccination campaigns supported by eHealth Africa in the first half of 2026 demonstrates what coordinated, technology-enabled immunization efforts can achieve. Behind this milestone are the systems, partnerships, and frontline health workers making it possible to identify underserved communities, improve campaign planning, and track implementation. Ultimately, the value of these solutions goes beyond the numbers. It lies in helping ensure that where a child lives does not determine whether they can be reached with life-saving vaccines.
For Mrs. Blessing, a plantain chips seller in an underserved community, managing her health was not always straightforward. She was living with high blood pressure and had limited information about antenatal care during pregnancy. Her story, shared by mDoc during the 2026 Insights Learning Forum (ILF), showed what can happen when the right information and support reach a woman at the right time.
Through mDoc’s Digital Mom Project, she received personalized self-care support, health tracking and timely guidance through AI-driven coaching, community engagement and health-system integration. According to mDoc, she did not miss her antenatal appointments and became more confident managing her blood pressure, nutrition and health decisions.
Her story reflects a much wider reality for women and girls around the world. Globally, 810 million women in low- and middle-income countries are still not using mobile internet, and more than two-thirds of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For adolescent girls and young women, the gap is even sharper. UNICEF reports that in low-income countries, around 90% of girls and young women aged 15–24 are offline, compared with 78% of boys and young men.
That reality should shape how we talk about digital health for women and girls. Innovation is not inclusive simply because it exists online, sits inside an app, or travels through a mobile phone. The real test is whether it reaches women and girls in a form they can access, trust, and act on.
For many women and girls, exclusion is shaped not only by connectivity, but also by income, mobility, literacy, privacy, caregiving responsibilities, household power dynamics, and the quality of care available when they seek help. These realities can determine whether a digital solution is actually useful, even when the technology itself is available.
Safety is another important part of that picture. Dr. Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, Founder of the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), warned that digital innovation can expose women to new forms of harm, including cyberstalking, online harassment, doxing, deepfakes, and misuse of personal information. “As we move forward with these digital innovations, we must recognize that these innovations come with digital harm,” she said.
Reaching women is therefore only one part of inclusion. Reaching them safely requires privacy safeguards, digital literacy, legal protection, and systems that can respond when harm occurs.
A similar systems approach is reflected in Jacaranda Health and eHealth Africa’s work on Promoting Mothers in Pregnancy and Postpartum Through SMS (PROMPTS) in Kano State. Rather than treating the platform as the intervention in itself, implementation has also focused on the systems women need around it: localized content, telecom integration, enrolment pathways, quality assurance, a user-support hub and health-trained call-centre agents. These foundations are designed to help women receive information that is locally relevant, reliable and supported by continued engagement.
This is what makes Mrs. Blessing’s story significant. The technology did not simply reach her; it was connected to continued guidance and support that helped her act on the information she received and make decisions about her health.
The real question is not simply whether women can be reached, but what changes because they are. Reach and engagement matter, but the deeper measure is whether women can use the information they receive to make better decisions, seek care, receive support, and experience better health.
That is the systems challenge at the heart of inclusive digital health. Technology can open the door, but what surrounds it determines whether women can walk through safely and benefit from what comes next. Digital health works best when access is connected to trust, protection, support, and clear pathways to care.
The difference between an early warning and a delayed response is rarely the absence of information. It is the system’s ability to detect a signal, verify it, interpret it, and act early enough to change the outcome. Outbreak preparedness therefore requires more than data collection. It depends on whether information can be turned into intelligence early enough to guide action.
Traditional surveillance remains essential, but it cannot carry the full burden alone. Public health threats may appear in routine reports, yet they can also emerge through community alerts, event-based surveillance, informal networks, or signals from the human–animal–environmental interface. A system that relies only on formal reporting risks missing the early warnings that sit outside its usual channels.
This is why the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identifies event-based surveillance as a key mechanism for early warning, risk assessment, and timely response. Early warning systems, event- and community-based surveillance, media scanning, laboratory reports, routine health data, and field intelligence can help public health actors notice signals earlier, test them against available evidence, and decide whether a response is needed.
The approach also aligns with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa’s (WHO AFRO) Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response guidance, which stresses strengthening community-based surveillance for early detection and rapid response.
One example shared during the Insights Learning Forum (ILF) 2026 illustrated this in practice. A speaker described how an Ebola-related alert in Lagos was detected through an event-based surveillance platform rather than routine end-of-day reporting. While limited details were shared about the incident, the example underscored a critical point: earlier detection gives response teams a better chance to investigate, assess the risk, communicate appropriately, and act before the situation escalates.
The value of intelligence lies in shortening the distance between a signal and a decision. However, speed means little if the information is weak. Poor-quality, incomplete, or delayed data can delay verification, misdirect resources, weaken coordination, and slow action when time matters most. In emergencies, data quality is not a technical detail but part of the response itself.
Many outbreaks also sit at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health, making it essential for public health intelligence to connect signals across sectors. A One Health approach, which considers these areas together rather than in isolation, helps decision-makers see not only what is happening, but where the risk may move next.
This is where technology matters, but not as a standalone solution. Digital tools can improve how data is collected, transmitted, analyzed, and visualized. They can support faster reporting, clearer alerts, and better decision-making. But technology must do more than introduce new platforms. It must strengthen the systems that allow governments and response actors to trust information, use it, and act on it.
A dashboard does not save lives on its own. An alert does not contain an outbreak by itself. A report does not become useful simply because it has been submitted. The real test is what happens next: who sees the signal, who verifies it, who decides what it means, who mobilizes the response, and how quickly action follows.
Public health intelligence must therefore move beyond collecting information. It must help countries see earlier, decide faster, and act before threats become harder to contain. For eHealth Africa, this connects directly to its work strengthening public health systems and supporting Emergency Operations Centers to turn timely information into better coordination, preparedness, and response.
Across Africa, young innovators are harnessing digital technologies to address persistent health challenges, from diagnostics and telemedicine to logistics and community health.
However, one question continues to shape these conversations: ‘How do promising youth-led ideas move from pilots and presentations into the systems where they can be tested, trusted, adopted, and sustained?’
This was one of the key issues discussed during the 2026 Insights Learning Forum (ILF) session: “Youth at the Centre: Creating Digital Solutions that Leave No One Behind.” The session reiterated that young people should not be seen only as beneficiaries of Africa’s digital health transformation. They should be recognised as leaders, co-creators, and partners in building stronger health systems.
ILF 2026 brought to the fore the barriers that often prevent youth-led innovations from progressing beyond early visibility. Some of the challenges include: unclear government engagement pathways, bureaucracy, limited access to financing and decision-makers, limited exposure to how health systems operate, and few opportunities to test solutions in real implementation environments.
The issue is no longer whether young innovators deserve a place in the conversation. The issue is whether the health ecosystem can create clear pathways for their ideas to be tested, supported, adopted, and sustained.
In this vein, the 43rd edition of eHealth Africa’s Public Health Dialogue Series, themed “Beyond ILF 2026: Creating Pathways for Youth-Led Digital Health Innovation,” will build on this conversation by asking what those pathways should look like in practice.
For Muhammad Isa Jaafar, Chairman of the Youth Engagement Strategy (YES) of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and webinar speaker, the answer begins with three actions: mobilise, empower, and support young innovators. That means bringing them closer to policy spaces, equipping them with skills and regulatory knowledge, and building systems that can fund, promote, and protect their innovations. He added that meaningful youth engagement also requires architecture, dedicated human and financial resources, including predictable budgets.
Part of the answer lies in early engagement. Young people need to be involved from the point where problems are being defined, not only when a solution is ready to be showcased. When innovators understand health-system priorities, community realities, and regulatory expectations, they are better positioned to build solutions that respond to actual needs.
For Dr. Olamide Sadik, a Medical Officer with Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior, this question is not theoretical. Her perspective is shaped by the realities young researchers and innovators face within formal systems, including unclear approval processes, bureaucracy, and the challenge of earning institutional trust. As one of the speakers for the webinar, she described meaningful integration as “continuous engagement, not one-off consultation forums.”
Another pathway is access to existing infrastructure. Too often, young innovators are expected to build from ground zero, even when systems, platforms, data structures, and implementation channels already exist. Youth-led innovation must plug into what already exists, rather than work in isolation.
Pathways also require credibility and trust. Dr. Olamide noted that institutions can help move young innovators from “risky bets” to “system-ready partners.”
As Dr. Olamide noted, one clear sign of progress would be seeing at least one youth-led solution move from pilot to government-backed adoption within a health system: “a named solution, in a named system, with real buy-in,” rather than another promising pilot that stalls after funding ends. Muhammad makes a similar point: young people must be trusted as important stakeholders whose lived experience can help shape relevant solutions.
That shift will require transparent approval processes, clear regulatory guidance, protections against exploitation, mentors who can open doors, and financing models that consider what happens after grants or pilots end. The upcoming Insights Webinar will move the conversation forward by focusing on the pathways that can make youth leadership possible.
Join the 43rd edition of eHealth Africa’s Public Health Dialogue Series as we continue the conversation on “Beyond ILF 2026: Creating Pathways for Youth-Led Digital Health Innovation.”
Across Africa, women are often the first point of contact in healthcare, serving as community health workers, nurses, caregivers, and public health practitioners. Yet when critical decisions about health systems are made, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership. This disconnect has consequences. When the people closest to community realities are missing from decision-making tables, health programmes risk overlooking important perspectives that influence trust, access, and effectiveness.
Women make up 70% of the health workforce, yet they hold just 25% of senior roles. This leadership gap directly weakens public health. When women are underrepresented in leadership, programs often miss important perspectives on the needs of women, children, and local communities. Decision-making becomes less inclusive, community trust becomes harder to build, and health interventions tend to be less effective and responsive.
However, eHealth Africa (eHA) is actively changing this narrative. At eHealth Africa, inclusion is treated as a strategic investment rather than a standalone initiative. The organisation has intentionally created pathways that help women enter, grow, and lead across technical, operational, and leadership roles.
These pathways include gender-conscious recruitment practices, leadership development opportunities, mentorship programmes, flexible work arrangements, and family-friendly policies designed to support long-term career growth.
One of the women who has experienced this growth firsthand is Fozia Ahmad Malik, Director of People & Operations at eHealth Africa.
Her journey illustrates how intentional investment in talent can create leadership opportunities for women while strengthening organisational capacity. She joined eHA in 2018 as a Finance Manager. Through targeted support and clear pathways, she climbed to Senior Manager, transitioned to lead Grants Management, became Deputy Director, and today leads our entire People & Operations directorate as the Director.
Looking back on her experience, Fozia attributes much of her growth to a workplace culture that prioritises inclusion and professional development. She says, “From day one, I’ve felt a deep culture of respect and inclusion. Even as a brown woman working in another country, I’ve always felt seen, supported, and treated equally. That’s why I’m especially grateful for my journey at eHealth Africa.” She also highlights how practical support enables women to sustain their careers, noting that flexible work arrangements have been a game-changer because they create space for women to juggle their many responsibilities without guilt.
These intentional efforts are translating into measurable progress. Women currently represent 33.3% of eHealth Africa’s workforce and 34.7% of leadership positions, demonstrating that women are advancing into decision-making roles at a rate that exceeds their overall workforce representation. Beyond the numbers, women who grow within the organisation tend to stay longer, take on greater responsibilities, and bring valuable insights that improve the quality of the organisation’s work.
For eHealth Africa, increasing women’s representation in leadership is not simply about workplace equity. Diverse leadership teams bring broader perspectives to programme design, community engagement, and operational decision-making. These perspectives help ensure that health interventions are better aligned with the realities of the communities they serve, particularly in areas such as maternal health, nutrition, immunisation, and community-based health programmes.
eHealth Africa continues to invest in inclusive initiatives, expanding mentorship and opportunities for women, using data to guide improvements, and creating an environment where women can thrive in leadership. Real and lasting progress will require collective commitment across governments, NGOs, and the private sector to dismantle structural barriers and outdated cultural norms.
At eHealth Africa, investing in women leaders is central to our mission. By empowering women to rise and lead, we build stronger, more resilient teams that deliver better health outcomes and create a deeper impact for the communities we serve. Building stronger health systems requires more than technology, funding, or infrastructure. It also requires leadership that reflects the communities those systems serve. By investing in women’s growth and leadership today, eHealth Africa is helping build a more inclusive, resilient, and responsive public health future across Africa.
Across Africa, organisations are competing for skilled talent, but attracting talent is only half the challenge. Retaining and developing that talent is often where organisations struggle. In public health, the consequences extend beyond the workplace. When experienced professionals leave, programmes lose continuity, institutional knowledge disappears, and the communities those programmes serve can feel the impact.
As recently as 2022, only 21% of nonprofits had a formal retention strategy in place. The result is a familiar cycle: organisations invest heavily in recruiting talent only to lose employees to environments that offer clearer opportunities for growth.
For organisations working to strengthen health systems, this challenge is particularly significant. Sustainable impact depends not only on funding, technology, or partnerships, but also on the people responsible for delivering programmes, supporting governments, coordinating stakeholders, and ensuring operational excellence.
At eHealth Africa (eHA), talent development is viewed as a strategic investment. Rather than waiting for employees to leave before responding, the organisation has intentionally created pathways for growth through cross-functional mobility, structured performance management, leadership development, managerial accountability, and a workplace culture that encourages continuous learning.
Few stories illustrate this approach better than Dena Lu’s career journey at eHealth Africa.
Dena joined the organisation in 2017 as a coordinator in the operations department after leaving a career in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which she felt did not align with her passion or sense of purpose. What began as a career transition soon became a journey of continuous growth and leadership development.
Over the years, Dena took on increasingly complex responsibilities across the organisation. She served as Senior Operations Manager at EHA Clinics, supporting the organisation’s expansion efforts, before moving into Programme Delivery as Project Support Unit (PSU) Manager. Today, she serves as Chief of Staff within eHealth Africa’s Executive Management team.
Her progression reflects more than individual career advancement. It demonstrates how investing in internal talent helps organisations retain institutional knowledge, strengthen leadership capacity, and improve operational effectiveness.
During her tenure as PSU Manager, Dena led several initiatives that strengthened organisational systems and improved how teams worked across eHealth Africa. She spearheaded the establishment of standard operating procedures for both the Project Support Unit and Knowledge Management functions, helping create greater consistency and accountability across project management processes.
She also played a key role in strengthening governance and compliance practices across teams. Under her leadership, the PSU evolved from being viewed primarily as a logistical support function to becoming a strategic partner that promoted project quality, compliance, and continuous improvement across the organisation.
Recognising the need for stronger project visibility and coordination, Dena championed improvements to the organisation’s use of Asana. Through platform automation enhancements, refresher trainings, and the promotion of internal Asana champions, she helped increase adoption across teams and improve task monitoring and collaboration.
Her team also introduced more effective performance indicators to track success and strengthened project documentation practices through the creation of monitoring tools that enabled teams to quickly identify missing project management documents and access key project resources. These improvements enhanced oversight, increased efficiency, and boosted confidence among teams supporting projects across the organisation.
The impact of these efforts extended beyond processes. Through successful coordination of high-profile initiatives, improved stakeholder engagement, and stronger cross-directorate collaboration, the PSU earned recognition from senior leadership and colleagues across the organisation for its contribution to operational excellence.
For Dena, however, growth was never solely about promotions or professional achievements.
“Everything I’ve achieved in my career today is because of eHealth Africa,” she says. “Each step of that journey was made possible because eHA recognises potential and provides growth opportunities. When you work hard, stay honest, and are intentional about what you do, people notice and support you.”
Equally important was a culture that viewed learning as part of growth.
“I’m not perfect; I’ve made mistakes along the way, but this organisation gives room to learn, to improve, and to make things right.”
Beyond professional development, Dena found something equally valuable: a sense of belonging.
“What has truly kept me at eHealth Africa all these years is the people and the culture,” she explains. “Working with people and being part of a community has always been something that truly fulfils me.”
She points to the relationships built through team activities, informal interactions, and shared experiences as an important part of what makes the workplace unique.
“It’s not just all about work,” she adds. “We strike a great balance. We are serious when it’s time to work, but we also make sure to enjoy ourselves when it’s time to relax.”
This culture of growth and belonging has earned recognition beyond the organisation itself. For four consecutive years, eHealth Africa has been certified as one of the Best Places to Work, receiving particularly strong ratings in learning and development, talent strategy, and career growth.
The certification is based on a rigorous methodology that includes independent HR audits and employee surveys, reflecting measurable employee experiences and workplace practices.
Executive Director Atef Fawaz attributes the recognition to a deliberate organisational commitment.
“Being recertified as one of the best places to work is not a mere coincidence but a reflection of our consistent intentionality in creating a workspace that inspires people to make a meaningful impact across communities.”
For eHealth Africa, investing in talent is not separate from its mission of strengthening health systems and improving outcomes for underserved communities. The two are deeply connected.
Employees who grow in capability and confidence are better equipped to strengthen governance systems, improve programme delivery, support government partners, coordinate complex initiatives, and respond effectively to emerging challenges. In turn, stronger teams create stronger institutions, and stronger institutions are better positioned to deliver lasting impact.
As organisations across Africa grapple with talent retention and workforce development challenges, the question is no longer simply what they are building in communities, but also what they are building in their people.
Strong health systems depend on strong institutions, and strong institutions depend on people who are given opportunities to grow. By investing in talent development, career mobility, and supportive workplace cultures, eHealth Africa is not only building careers; it is strengthening the capacity required to improve lives and advance public health outcomes across Africa.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended eHealth Africa and other partners for their role in strengthening immunization, disease surveillance, and outbreak response in Nigeria. This followed the commissioning of upgraded Polio Emergency Operations Centres (PEOCs) in Kano, Katsina, and Sokoto states.
The President gave the commendation during the nationwide commissioning of health infrastructure projects across the country’s six geopolitical zones as part of activities marking the third anniversary of his administration.
The three upgraded centres, originally established in 2013 with support from the Gates Foundation and managed by eHealth Africa, were expanded, renovated, and re-equipped to improve coordination of immunization programmes, disease surveillance, and emergency outbreak response at the state level.
The Kano PEOC is located at the Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, Nassarawa, while the Katsina centre is situated within the premises of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency. The Sokoto PEOC is housed at the Epidemiology Unit of the Specialist Hospital along Sultan Abubakar Road.
The centres were initially established to support Nigeria’s polio eradication efforts but have evolved into critical public health coordination hubs supporting routine immunization, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, and response to disease outbreaks.
President Tinubu, while inaugurating the projects, acknowledged the contributions of eHealth Africa and other development partners like the World Bank and the Gates Foundation to strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare system.
In a press statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and released after the commissioning, the President said the investments were aimed at ensuring that Nigerians have access to quality healthcare services regardless of their location.
“The President commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, the management of NEMSAS, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, eHealth Africa, the state governors, and the federal teaching hospitals that delivered the projects.”
The President also commissioned several other health projects across the country, including the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) Emergency Response Fleet, a new specialist complex at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, a Mental Health and Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Maiduguri, and a new immunization supply chain hub in Lagos.
Health sector stakeholders have described the PEOCs as one of the key pillars supporting Nigeria’s public health architecture, particularly in the areas of immunization coverage, disease surveillance, and emergency response coordination.
Over the years, eHealth Africa has worked with government and development partners to deploy data-driven solutions and technology systems that support disease control programmes and strengthen health systems across Nigeria and other African countries.
The commissioning of the upgraded centres will enhance coordination among health agencies and improve the country’s ability to detect and respond to outbreaks while supporting efforts to increase routine immunization coverage in vulnerable communities.
In many parts of Nigeria, young women undergo the tough journey of academic turbulence and graduate with strong academic training, full of ambition and a desire. While graduation and National Service are seen as major achievements, it is indeed the beginning of another herculean voyage into the professional world.
However, economic empowerment remains a major challenge for many women, who are more likely to face systemic barriers such as unequal pay, limited access to leadership opportunities, and the undervaluation of their work. As revealed by the World Health Organization, while women make up nearly 70% of the global health workforce, they occupy only about 25% of leadership roles. As a matter of fact, over 21 million Nigerian women are financially excluded, often relying on informal savings or borrowing from family and friends.
It is within this context that the eHealth Africa Group positioned its 2025/2026 goal to empower economic prosperity and create equitable opportunities for women and vulnerable populations. As one of the Group’s implementing entities, eHealth Africa (eHA) is advancing this goal through targeted initiatives designed to bridge the gap between potential and opportunity. This birthed the All-Female Internship Cohort.
This internship provides important opportunities for mentorship and practical skills in the field of public Healthcare while elevating economic empowerment opportunities. The organization took intentional steps to create opportunities within its procurement processes to encourage women to participate and succeed in doing business with the organization. So far, the journey has been similar for all the interns who are transitioning into bigger opportunities in the public healthcare systems.
For Deborah Ayeni, a Public Health Science graduate placed in the Programs Delivery team within the Disease Prevention and Monitoring Unit, the biggest lesson has been the difference between theory and real-world execution.
“You may read in theory about steps to follow in project management, but in practice, things do not always work exactly as described in textbooks or videos. This has taught me that practical experience is very important and always outweighs theory,” she said. This not only provides an opportunity to build a career but also opens the door to bigger opportunities for employment and financial inclusion.
Deborah also highlighted the intentional design of the cohort. Seeing an all-female cohort made her feel that eHealth Africa is deliberately creating opportunities for women and actively working toward inclusion, especially in economic indices. “It was inspiring and encouraging to see this level of commitment,” she added.
Isioma Cynthia Ozoene interns with the Project Support Unit. She joined the cohort, eager to build real-world skills in project coordination. She found exactly the hands-on experience she was looking for, supported by guidance yet allowing plenty of independence. “My team members are there to guide me, but they still give me room to carry out tasks by myself, with not much hand-holding,” she explained.
Being part of an all-female internship cohort has significantly contributed to interns’ economic empowerment, especially via exposure to other ambitious women, which has strengthened their mindset around financial independence and career growth.
Isioma added that, “It has encouraged me to be more intentional about building a sustainable career and positioning myself for opportunities that improve my earning potential.”
Looking ahead, Isioma aims to build on this foundation by pursuing opportunities in project management and development practice, while continuing to grow through continuous learning, mentorship, and hands-on experience.
Precious Richard, an Actuarial Science graduate working with the Business Development team, has strengthened her skills in data organisation, research, adaptability, and time management. She has learned how to balance multiple responsibilities while meeting deadlines in a structured, high-performing environment.
Reflecting on the cohort, she shared,“Being part of this all-female internship cohort has been an inspiring experience. It has taught me how the organisation is committed to gender equity and creating opportunities for women to thrive professionally. It has also strengthened my confidence and made me feel proud of being part of the organisation.”
Clever Rebecca, works in the Impact Measurement Department. Her role involves data analysis, qualitative and quantitative analysis, report writing, and data visualisation. She joined the programme expecting to gain more skills in areas where she wanted to grow. As she explained, “I did not know R programming before, and I was not familiar with Google tools for qualitative analysis. Now, I am learning them here. That was one of my expectations, and it has been met.”
Sharing her thoughts on the all-female cohort, she remarked, “It makes me feel that the organization is thoughtful and mindful of women.”
Across every directorate and office, the same themes emerge: growth, resilience, and discovery. As part of this all-female cohort, we are not only gaining technical skills, but we are also building the confidence and professional foundation needed to contribute meaningfully to public health and development across Africa.
Working within the Communications Department has been particularly transformative. It has shifted my perspective on communication from a supporting role to a strategic function, one that connects impactful work to the communities it is meant to serve.
Thus, for the 17 participants and me, that transformation has unfolded over the past six months. The program spans multiple directorates and has placed us across the Kano and Abuja offices as well as the Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Each of us has been given real responsibilities that continue to shape how we understand our roles and contributions to stronger health systems.
One of the most defining parts of this journey for me has been stepping into hands-on tasks that pushed me beyond my comfort zone.
Through these experiences, I have begun to see the Communications Department not just as a support function, but as a powerful bridge between the work being done and the people it is meant to reach.
The All-Female Internship Cohort is a clear example of how the eHealth Africa Group’s broader goal is being translated into action. By creating structured pathways for young women to gain experience, build confidence, and access professional networks, the initiative is addressing both workforce gaps and economic inclusion. It is a deliberate investment in the next generation of female leaders. By equipping young women with real-world experience, mentorship, and opportunities, eHealth Africa is helping to shape a more inclusive, skilled, and resilient workforce; one that will drive lasting impact in the communities we serve.
Ultimately, this is not just about internships. It is about building a pipeline of skilled, confident women who are equipped to lead and economically empowered to contribute and drive lasting impact within public health systems and beyond.
African digital health is entering a new phase; one defined less by proving innovation and more by scaling what already works. As partnerships between Africa and Europe continue to evolve, the opportunity lies in moving beyond short-term pilots toward long-term, system-integrated solutions. Drawing on practical experience from across the continent, this article explores how more intentional partnership design can unlock sustainable impact at scale.
African digital health has gradually moved beyond pilots. The next stage is partnering to scale what already works. Across the continent, the challenge is no longer proving that digital solutions can improve health outcomes. That case has been made repeatedly. The real test now is whether partnerships, particularly with European institutions, are structured to sustain and scale impact over time.
At eHealth Africa, our experience offers a clear view of what is possible when digital innovation is embedded within systems, not treated as an experiment. In 2025, our microplanning and monitoring tools, including Planfeld and the Geospatial Tracking System (GTS), supported immunization efforts across more than 500,000 settlements, more than doubling the reach from the previous year. Behind that number is a simple but powerful shift: health workers using trusted data to find and reach missed children. The result was over 20 million children immunized.
We have seen the same pattern in supply chain management. With digital tools designed to monitor vaccine potency and distribution in real time, more than 5 million doses were delivered to over 300 primary healthcare facilities. These are not isolated successes; they are the outcome of sustained investment in systems that work under real conditions.
And yet, across Africa, many promising solutions never reach this level of scale. A handful of these solutions are still evolving from pilot phases while others are at varying degrees of integration into national and subnational systems. This may have contributed to the well-known ‘graveyard of pilots’ narrative. Thus, the next phase of Africa–Europe digital health will depend more on building the pathways that enable what already works to scale..
Three areas stand out where partnerships can evolve;
First, an important area of focus is the shift from short-term funding to long-term system investment. Digital health solutions may struggle to mature within the lifespan of a typical pilot cycle. They require sustained financing that supports not only deployment, but also integration, maintenance, and local capacity. Encouragingly, recent collaboration between the European Union and the World Health Organization to advance digital health transformation in Africa signals a move in this direction. The priority now is to deepen these models into long-term, co-owned commitments.
Second, greater emphasis on co-creation can help move beyond more top-down approaches. The most effective solutions are those built within the context they serve, aligned with national priorities, shaped by local expertise, and accountable to local institutions. Partnerships that treat African organizations as equal architects are more likely to produce outcomes that endure. Localisation is not a process choice. It is a power decision with who designs the tool, who owns the data, who keeps the institutional knowledge after the project closes. Partnerships that get those answers right are co-created. Partnerships that do not are using co-creation as language for inherited hierarchies. The alignment between African Union and European Union health priorities, particularly around health security and primary care, demonstrates what is possible when this balance is achieved.
Third, scaling proven solutions will be central to the next phase. Africa’s strength in innovation is well established; the priority now is strengthening the mechanisms that enable what works to expand to national and regional scale. Following demonstrated success, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health has approved the national adoption of eHealth Africa’s Climate Health Vulnerability Assessment Tool (CHAT). This is a practical example of how locally developed tools, once validated, can be integrated into public systems and expanded for broader impact. Replicating and adapting such models will deliver far greater value than repeatedly starting from zero.
These shifts are not theoretical; they are operational choices. They determine whether digital health investments translate into sustained outcomes or remain isolated successes.
Africa’s role in global health innovation has fundamentally changed. The continent is no longer defined by gaps, but by its growing capacity to design, test, and deliver solutions at scale. What is required now is a partnership model that matches that reality, one built on shared priorities, mutual accountability, and long-term commitment.
The opportunity before Africa and Europe is not to prove that digital health works. It is to scale what works, on the terms of the people who built it.
Ota Akhigbe is the Director of Partnerships and Programs at eHealth Africa, where she leads partnership strategy and external positioning for the organisation’s work across digital health, climate-health integration, and health system strengthening. She works at the intersection of African-led implementation and global health financing, and convenes funders, implementers, and policymakers across the Africa-Europe corridor. She is the co-curator of the AidEx Geneva 2026 headline panel on the future of humanitarian aid and a regular voice at global health convening.
eHealth Africa (eHA) is a nonprofit advancing stronger health systems across 26 African countries through locally driven, data-powered solutions. With over 15 years of experience, the organization has built scalable technology and operational platforms tailored to the continent’s public health challenges, while fostering collaboration to accelerate innovation and impact.
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