By Mercy Gadia Adi
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has called for urgent and sustained investment in digital health skills across Africa to strengthen the continent’s healthcare systems and make them more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready.
Dr. Salako made the call on Monday while delivering a keynote address at the 2025 Africa Health Tech Summit (AHTS), held at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda.
Speaking on the plenary theme, “The Case for Digital Health Skilling in Africa,” the Minister said technology alone cannot solve Africa’s health challenges without adequately trained health workers who can effectively deploy and manage it.
“The pathway to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and resilient health systems is not built on technology alone, because technology itself is only as good as the people who use it,” he said.
He described digital health skills as both an economic and moral imperative, adding that “the most sustainable investment we can make in health transformation is not in devices or dashboards, but in the human beings who will power them.”
The Minister urged African governments, academic institutions, private sector players, and development partners to collaborate in establishing regional centres of excellence for research, innovation, and capacity building in digital health.
He also called for the standardization and accreditation of digital health competencies across African countries to facilitate mutual recognition and mobility of skilled professionals within the continent.
Highlighting Nigeria’s efforts, Dr. Salako said the country is implementing a people-centred digital transformation under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, guided by the Nigeria Digital Health Strategy (2021–2025) and the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative (NDHI).
He explained that the initiative aims to build a unified, secure, and interoperable digital ecosystem that empowers health workers and ensures equitable access to healthcare for all Nigerians.
“Our goal is not just to digitalize health delivery systems but to ensure that every health worker, from the most remote primary health centre to tertiary hospitals, is equipped to use digital tools for care delivery and policy decision-making,” he said.
According to the Minister, 76 percent of Nigeria’s federal tertiary health institutions currently have varying levels of digitization, ranging from 50 to 100 percent, with similar progress being recorded at the state and local government levels.
He disclosed that the federal government is also providing incentives to accelerate health digitization nationwide, with plans to establish a National Health Information Exchange by 2027.
Dr. Salako further emphasized the importance of improving digital literacy among the general population to ensure inclusive adoption of digital health tools, noting that this would require sustained investment in infrastructure, education, and public awareness.
“The case for digital health skilling in Africa is no longer optional it is practical, urgent, and transformational, We must invest in the digital capacity of our people to achieve Universal Health Coverage and to build resilient health systems that can withstand future shocks,”he said.
He concluded with a call for collective action, saying, “Together, we can make technology the heartbeat of a healthier, more connected Africa, one where every health worker is empowered, every patient is seen, and every community is served.”