Global Health Connector recently participated in the Africa HealthTech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. One of our flagship events, this year’s Summit was held under the theme “Wellness for All, Powered by Intelligent Health Systems.”
Representing Global Health Connector on the ground, Chair Brian O’Connor and Innovation Director Karolina Mackiewicz contributed to several key sessions. The Summit marked important milestones in Africa-Europe collaboration, ecosystem building, and the celebration of digital health leadership across Africa and beyond.
Three developments stand out for our community: a new partnership to bring AHTS to HLTH Europe, Global Health Connector becoming an Anchor Partner of the Africa Digital Health Networks (ADHN), and Brian’s induction as a Fellow of the Academy of Public Health.
Alongside the second AHTS x Canada event in June 2027, the Africa HealthTech Summit is launching its first European edition. AHTS x Europe 2027 will take place alongside HLTH Europe in Amsterdam on 21–24 June 2027, as part of the Global Health Connector Village.
A trilateral agreement between HLTH, Global Health Connector and AHTS was signed during the Kigali Summit. Global Health Connector and AHTS then signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the closing ceremony.
We are proud to help bring African health innovation voices to Europe and strengthen Africa–Europe collaboration. We will mobilise the African diaspora, professional networks, international partners and innovation ecosystems to support the event, which aims to attract 1,000 participants.
Global Health Connector has officially become an Anchor Partner of the ADHN. The new role builds on our existing position as ADHN’s Global Outreach Partner and reflects a shared ambition to connect African digital health ecosystems with the rest of the world.
Africa is home to remarkable digital health innovations, expertise and solutions that deserve greater international visibility. The world has much to learn from African experiences and approaches, and stronger global connections can create opportunities for mutual learning, collaboration and growth.
Through this partnership, we will use our international network to amplify African innovation voices, facilitate knowledge exchange, and build meaningful connections between African, European and global stakeholders. Our shared vision: an Africa that is not only connected to the global digital health community, but recognised as a key contributor to shaping its future.
While in Kigali, Brian O’Connor received a medal and was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Public Health at the Africa HealthTech Summit. The honour follows his being named to the Director-General’s Fellows List last year.
“Africa is deeply close to my heart. The brilliance, creativity and talent across this continent are second to none. If we want to solve global health challenges, we have to look to African innovation and invest in African leaders. Period.
Through Global Health Connector, I am energised to contribute to this collective mission alongside an institution that champions these exact values. My sincere thanks to Dr Francis Ohanyido, FAPH, and the Academy of Public Health for this incredible honour.”
— Brian O’Connor, Chair, Global Health Connector
During the Summit, Karolina Mackiewicz spoke at eHealth Africa’s session “Beyond the Grant”. The panel took on one of the biggest questions in African digital health: what happens when the funding ends?
Karolina was joined by speakers from government, implementation, innovation and service delivery (Dr Claudia Shilumani, IPPF Africa Region; Dr Martin Balaba, Academy for Health Innovations, Uganda; Hon. Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, PhD, Kano State).
The panel agreed on one principle: sustainability is not an exit strategy, it is a design requirement.
Karolina drew a key distinction: building a successful innovation is not the same as getting it adopted. She argued that sustainability should be treated as an adoption pathway rather than an afterthought.
“Rather than asking at the end of a project how an intervention will continue, organisations should establish much earlier who could adopt it.”
— Karolina Mackiewicz, Innovation Director, Global Health Connector
Global Health Connector and Africa Health Business (AHB) co-hosted a roundtable that brought together experts from Africa CDC, eHealth Africa, HELINA and the West African Institute of Public Health to explore practical cooperation on health data exchange and interoperability.
Discussions highlighted ongoing initiatives, including the East African Community’s work on interconnected health data markets and the Africa CDC–GIZ One Health Data Alliance Africa. Participants also explored opportunities for Africa–Europe cooperation on shared standards, expert exchange and practical use cases, such as digital vaccination certificates and cross-border patient records.
Participants stressed the importance of African representation in international standards development. They also highlighted the potential of interoperability to strengthen intra-African collaboration, healthcare delivery and research.
The key next step is to establish a technical collaboration mechanism to turn these priorities into action. Global Health Connector and AHB will take the discussion forward at three upcoming milestones:
AHTS@5 marked a step change in our commitment to African digital health, from new partnerships to a shared roadmap on interoperability.
We thank the AHTS team, ADHN, AHB, eHealth Africa and all speakers and partners who made our week in Kigali so productive and full of collaboration. We look forward to welcoming the African health innovation community to Amsterdam in June 2027.