Mapping Changemakers Transforming Health in Africa

Events
Written By Jonta Kamara
Flyer for 2nd Anual Africa Health Conference. Red globe with the African continent in white on the left. On the right “2nd Anual Africa Health Conference February 23rd & 24th Harvard Chan Africa Health Students Forum”

Flyer for 2nd Anual Africa Health Conference by the Harvard Chan Africa Health Students Forum.

This post is in collaboration with the Harvard Chan Africa Health Students Forum.

From February 23 to 24, 2024, the Harvard Chan Africa Health Students Forum will host its second annual conference. This year’s theme is “Mapping Changemakers Transforming Health in Africa.” Speaking to the conference team, this year’s theme is all about implementation!  When we talk about public health in Africa, implementation is key. All the dialogue is great, but let us actually make changes. 

From the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to the  Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights, to the African Youth Charter, to the Road Safety Charter, to the Kampala Convention to Protect Internally Displaced Persons and to the Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,  all the articles of these protocols and charters should be implemented. They have key components to protect population health, particularly those that face injustices. This brief list only consists of a few African Union charters and protocols, there are 72 in total. Another listing could be made for the United Nations and international agreements that African countries, as well as countries on other continents, have signed and not implemented. Needless to say, there are so many charters, protocols, and agreements yet significant inequities and injustices are still faced in health on the African continent. 

This is not to say, that as a continent, there has been no progress in public health. There is more progress to be made, especially in enforcing and implementing charters and protocols to safeguard and promote everyone’s health and wellbeing. There are still significant disparities that exist in achieving positive health outcomes, and there are also a lot of people and organizations doing great work to ensure everyone has positive health outcomes. 

What is great about this conference, is that it focuses on changemakers and those leading the way to make change in the African health space. There has always been a dominant negative narrative about public health in Africa, which was explicitly shown during the COVID-19 pandemic on projections of which parts of the world would not be able to respond adequately. This conference theme and the lineup really makes an effort to center African perspectives and let us share our narrative. 

There are still times when watching the news or looking at authors of journal articles discussing health issues on the continent, the speakers or writers are not African. This can show a biased understanding of issues and excludes those who are directly affected by issues. Not to say non-Africans cannot write/speak about African issues, rather in a world where we are already often excluded it is important to center our voices in conversations about us. 

The conference has 4 plenary sessions, 5 panels, a poster competition, and a gala. It is going to be a good time! As we gear up to the conference, some plenary sessions I am looking forward to the sessions on the following topics: health startups, digital health & artificial intelligence (AI), and health financing. 

We are in an era of increased connectivity, technology is helping to fill gaps in African countries’ health systems. The session titled Health Startups Made in Africa: How can entrepreneurs fill in public health gaps? will provide more insight into health start-ups. Health tech startups account for 8.4% of Africa’s startups that are funded and in 2022, $170M of investments went into this field. There are some gender inequities as tech start-ups led by women only captured 1% of the share value of deals. The health tech space is growing, and lots of investments are happening in this area.

The session is titled Digital & AI: The power of new technology in Africa, which is another important topic. The World Bank and African Development Bank estimate that there are 650 million mobile users on the continent which is more than the United States or Europe. Given mobile phones are so present, there are ways to leverage this technology to improve health outcomes. AI also can have promises to improve public health but this is dependent on data quality and there also needs to be certain legal frameworks and policies in place. AI can also be used to support people with disabilities and this should be at the center of these discussions. 

Health financing is an important topic, as citizens should pay minimal out-of-pocket expenditures for health systems. Health systems should also not be heavily donor-funded. The session is titled Health Financing: Supporting Africa’s health priorities for the next decade. This was also a topic of discussion at the Africa CDC’s outcome statement of the 2nd Youth Pre-Conference under the theme “Youth Leadership for a Safer and Healthier Africa.” There was a recommendation for member states to implement the 15% pledge on the Abuja Agreement. Will countries invest 15% in their health systems or is it time to create another attainable pledge? 

While countries lack financial investments, there is also a question of how financial institutions can help to ensure countries' investments can be made for health. This arises as a July 2023 report by the United Nations estimates that, “in Africa, the amount spent on interest payments is higher than spending on either education or health.”

Jonta Kamara
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