The Policy Program is one of the five pillars of the HealthTech Hub Africa (HTHA), designed to support the development of forward-looking policies to accelerate the mainstreaming of innovative HealthTech solutions improving public health equity and access across Africa.
The Policy Program
Fast-Track Healthtech Innovations in Public Health in Africa
The Policy Program Introduction
The Policy Program achieves this in 3 ways :
1. Facilitating Dialogue:
Connect startups and policymakers to address gaps and create opportunities for scaling and strengthening innovations within African health systems.
2. Influencing Policy:
Influence both in-country and global health policy by capturing real world insights and opportunities from identified policy and regulation gaps in Africa.
3. Translating Insights into Action:
Translate insights into action to achieve tangible population health impact.
Through this multidisciplinary approach, the policy program is well positioned to achieve two key outcomes:
Desired Outcomes
- Strengthened partnerships between HealthTech innovators and policymakers across Africa
- Sustained political will for HealthTech innovation across Africa to:
- Strengthen HealthTech policy ecosystems
- Increase use of data to inform policy dialogues at PanAfrica and country levels
- Provide a platform to support HealthTech startups and scaleups
- Package and disseminate Africa HealthTech best practices
Components of the Policy Program
1. Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG)
The Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) is an integral component of the Policy Program, aimed at fostering sustained intergovernmental relations and political commitment.
- Goals of the IWG
The overall goal of the HTHA IWG is to foster sustained intergovernmental relations, political commitment, and an enabling working environment between Africa health technologists/innovators and country governments, aligned Africa regional bodies, and global platforms and partners to accelerate the realization of high-quality universal healthcare delivery in Africa.
- IWG Objectives
Mobilize, Position, and Sustain Effective Africa Health Innovation Ecosystems:
Cultivate sustained political will, decrease policy barriers, and increase the importance of health innovations among policymakers.
Amplify Voices from the Innovators and Foster Partnerships with Governments:
Guide and support Africa health innovators and governments to better partner, nurturing new and scaling up impactful innovations among national governments and aligned regional international agencies.
Sustain and Diffuse Learnings and Best Practices:
Guide Policy Blueprint and sustainability strategy development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation supported by the HTHA technical secretariat.
- IWG Structure and Roles
The IWG operates on a two-tier structure to manage health tech policies and innovations effectively:
- Pan-African IWG: Composed of high-level ministers who provide strategic oversight and support for the implementation of the HTHA Policy Blueprint. This tier is responsible for ratifying, approving, and committing countries to the policy framework.
- In-Country IWG: Made up of technical focal points from relevant ministries, this tier focuses on developing and steering coordination frameworks, contributing to the Policy Blueprint, facilitating partnerships, and ensuring sustainability and best practices at the country level. It will have three subcommittees: Data, Licensing, and Public-Private Initiatives (PPI).
2. The Policy Blueprint
The Policy Blueprint is a playbook for innovation in public health policymaking designed for government decision-makers. It aims to fast-track health tech innovation across Africa by facilitating dialogue between startups and policymakers, addressing gaps, and providing opportunities for scaling innovations to strengthen African health systems.
The Policy Blueprint aims to support decision-makers by providing overall policy directions, specific actions and practical examples to complement their efforts to accelerate healthtech in Africa and enable innovation development, testing and sustainability.
Introduction
Between May 2023 and February 2024, VillageReach, on behalf of the HealthTech Hub Africa (HTHA) and in collaboration with other partners, conducted various activities to collect data, gain insights and document experiences from innovators, government representatives and other stakeholders on using healthtech in selected African countries.
Data collection methods included a landscape analysis, interviews with 43 key informants, and face-to-face consultations with stakeholder groups from Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Cameroon. Stakeholders consulted included healthtech innovators or startups, academics, investors, policymakers, civil society representatives and government officials.
The Blueprint encapsulates a comprehensive overview of the challenges, opportunities, recommendations, enablers, and practical examples identified during the extensive consultations and analyses.
Policy Blueprint Contextual Background
Healthtech has great potential for patients, providers, health systems, and African communities, aiding Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals. It can address healthcare professional shortages and logistics issues.
Electronic medical records and telemedicine can boost efficiency by 15%, freeing resources for other needs. African governments recognize healthtech’s value and are advancing digital health strategies. Multilateral partners like WHO, Africa CDC, and World Bank support healthtech with frameworks, technical assistance, and funding.
The Healthtech Hub Africa has expanded its healthtech knowledge base through its accelerator program and relationships with African governments and stakeholders.
Challenges Hindering Accelerating Healthtech in Africa
1. Lack of unified, comprehensive and updated set of policies governing healthtech at country and regional levels
2. Complex, lengthy and unclear healthtech licensing processes
3. Poor infrastructure to support healthtech
4. Limited access to healthcare data
5. Data insecurity
6. Lack of protection for healthtech intellectual property rights
7. Limited integration of healthtech into health systems
8. Limited operational capacity for healthtech
Download Blueprint Policy – Version 1.
Discover how healthtech can revolutionize healthcare for patients, providers, and communities in Africa. Our comprehensive report covers the potential of healthtech in achieving Universal Health Coverage, boosting efficiency with telemedicine, and addressing critical challenges like professional shortages and logistics.