In this episode of the TechAfrica News Podcast, Chief Editor and Founder, Akim Benamara sits down with Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Chief Digital Advisor at Africa CDC, for an eye-opening conversation on health tech’s role in shaping Africa’s digital future. With deep roots in both medicine and technology, Nsengimana offers a timely perspective on how innovation can—and must—scale to meet the needs of the continent’s 1.4 billion people.

Africa’s youth are building, startups are emerging, and digital health is no longer a nice-to-have. But how do we turn local innovation into large-scale impact? And what will it take to create Africa’s first health tech unicorn?

Our Guest

Jean Philbert Nsengimana is the Chief Digital Health Advisor at Africa CDC and a leading voice in Africa’s digital transformation. A former Rwandan Minister of Youth and ICT, he has driven major initiatives like Smart Africa and YouthConnekt Africa. With global advisory roles and degrees from Harvard and SP Jain, he is focused on leveraging tech to shape Africa's future of health. 

The Opportunity and the Bottlenecks

Africa has no shortage of health tech innovation, but it struggles with scale. He outlined four persistent barriers:

· Infrastructure: Over 50% of health facilities lack power or internet.

· Skills: There are gaps across all levels—from frontline workers to policymakers.

· Regulation: Fragmented policies across borders limit scale.

· Capital: Health tech needs patient investment, unlike faster-moving sectors like FinTech.

Why Telemedicine Matters

Nsengimana believes telemedicine is one of the most scalable tools to bridge Africa’s healthcare gaps. The Africa Health Tech Hub in Kigali is already incubating over 40 promising startups, showing the demand—and the readiness. 

“Africa is moving towards the universal health coverage objective by 2030. But if we look at the speed at which we've been moving, I don't think we're going to reach that if we continue to move at the same speed. To ensure that everyone across the continent—regardless of where they live or their income level—has access to basic health services, we must accelerate our efforts.” – Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Chief Digital Advisor, Africa CDC. 

A Digital Health Record for Every African and the Power of AI 

Under the leadership of Dr. Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC envisions a digital health lifecycle—from birth registration to social insurance. This “horizontal health record” aims to transform not just health but other citizen-facing services. AI will play a critical role in Africa’s disease preparedness and frontline care. 

Platforms for Progress

To help governments and investors navigate the space, Africa CDC launched a Health Tech Marketplace for vetted innovations and is developing a sandbox for testing solutions, especially AI-based ones. 

A Continental Wishlist

Nsengimana’s top three priorities:

1. Remove digital borders to unlock a unified African market.

2. Multiply investment in health tech tenfold.

3. Build Africa-owned data infrastructure for digital sovereignty.

This episode was filmed on 05.03.2025, in Barcelona

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