Webinar Series - Africa Health Business Symposium

1st Webinar Series Reports

High Level Roundtable: Protecting Africa - Lives and Economies During COVID-19

15th July 2020

There are so many variables, and it’s difficult to predict outcomes, but protecting lives and mitigating negative impacts on the continent is a priority for every government, ministries of health, global health leaders, and health institutions. At this roundtable session we are proud to host partners from both public and private sectors to provide information on how we can be united in combatting our common enemy, COVID-19.

"Humanity is faced with an unprecedented health crisis. And that requires unprecedented solutions, as well as unprecedented solidarity"

John Nkengasong

Director, Africa CDC

"You have to balance between the economic situation in the country versus the health situation. Most people have to go out on a daily basis to support their families."

Hon. Wilhelmina Jhalla

Minister of Health, Liberia

"If Africa starts losing its health workers, which are too few already, the entire system will struggle and that will have an impact, not on COVID19 but on all the other diseases."

Peter Sands

Executive Director, The Global Fund

Digital Health

17th July 2020

Robin Njiru

Business Lead-East Africa, Amazon Wen Services

Ademola Olajide

Representative Kenya, UNFPA

Chemu Lang’at

Regional Head for Africa, Medtronic Labs

Nicole Spieker

Director, East Africa, PharmAccess Foundation

Brian O’Connor

Chair, ECH Alliance

Chris LeGrand

CEO, Broadreach

Since the turn of the century, the continent has witnessed a rising number of private investments in digital health and innovation with a huge potential for scaling up to deliver greater impact. The current pandemic underscores the importance of technology. This can curb the spread of the disease where both the public and private sector through collaboration can improve healthcare by leveraging innovations in digital health.

"The world has already experienced inequalities in regards to access to health, and Africa bears a disproportionate burden with regards to disease and health outcomes. This provides opportunities for new and unique approaches."

Ademola Olajide

Country Representative Kenya, UNFPA

"By partnering with local organizations, they can ensure that they are fully compliant with data security in that local context. The reality is, innovation will always go ahead of regulation and there needs to be a balance between the two."

Robin Njiru

Business Lead-East Africa, Amazon Web Services

"Critical to UHC is gaining trust. If you think about moving from post-payment to pre-payment, it means being prepared so you’re not caught by surprise. Digital technology offers exciting possible solution for this."

Nicole Spieker

Director East Africa, PharmAccess Group

Manufacturing & Supply Chain

24th July 2020

Githinji Gitahi

CEO, Amref Health Africa

Matshidiso Moeti

Regional Director Africa, WHO

Karim Bendahou

Head Africa Bureau, MERCK

Samba Bathily

CEO,Africa Development Solutions

Geoffrey Nyaga

Chief Operations Officer at Astral Aerial Solutions

Manufacturing & Supply Chain – 24th July 2020

COVID-19 has resulted in unprecedented disruption of global and local supply chains and manufacturing, causing interruptions in the supply of both pharma and medical supplies. The current pandemic presents us with an opportunity to reflect and reassess our traditional systems, such as production and supply chain moving closer to local demand. This shift comes with a chance to adapt and improve defining ‘the new normal’ beyond COVID-19 and how they contribute to building resilient, innovative healthcare systems.

"In low and middle income countries, where these supply chains are already fragile at the best of times, the COVID-19 disruption has made a bad situation even worse. This has led to shortages and price hikes, and could also trigger an epidemic of counterfeit medicines."

Githinji Gitahi

CEO, Amref Health Africa

"The WHO has been very encouraged by the willingness of the private sector to play a part in addressing this pandemic. COVID19 has provided an opportunity for further collaboration between private and public sectors and we need to continue building on this."

Matshidiso Moeti

Regional Director Africa, WHO

"We cannot currently ensure full and proper cold chain transportation across the African continent. We need to have freight capacity that is in Africa and that is serving Africa. We need to stop discussing and move to actually solving the complexities of these challenges. "

Karim Bendahou

Head Africa Bureau, Merck

High Level Roundtable: Preparing Africa - What next after the COVID-19 surge?

29th July 2020

Every ministry of health and global health leader is thinking about what we need to do today to have a better tomorrow. What we do in the next three months in Africa will predict the long-term impact of the pandemic. The rate at which COVID-19 is spreading in Africa is alarming. In some ways, though, we are lucky because we are at the tail end of the global transmission chain and have had time to learn how to slow the virus. There are, of course, challenges in public-private partnership, but we have a common enemy and we want to continue strengthening collaboration. Solidarity needs to spread across Africa, not only between public and private sectors at the national level, but partnerships across borders.

"By sharing any mistakes and challenges we face, we can help other countries to not go through the same things."

Hon. Zweli Mkhize

Minister of Health, South Africa

"The pandemic is more than a health crisis; it has affected societies and economies at the core, including a lack of progress toward the SDGs. "

Thokozile Ruzvidzo

Director, Social Development Policy Division, UNECA

"In order to weather this pandemic, there are several best practices we can build on. Collaboration and a multi-sectoral approach is essential."

Alexandre Tiendrebeogo

Acting Director for Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases Cluster, WHO

Testing, tracking & treating

31st July 2020

Amit N. Thakker

President, Africa Healthcare Federation

John Nkengasong

Director, Africa CDC

Marc Matthews

Business Development Director Africa, LumiraDx

Ada Mwangola

Director Social & Political Pillars, Kenya Vision 2030

Renuka Gadde

Vice President, Global Health, BD

Manal Halwani

Healthcare Industry Leader- EMEA South, SAP

Kennedy Njau

Government Affairs Director Sub Saharan Africa, Astra Zeneca

Testing, Tracking & Treating – 31st July 2020

We have not had a better opportunity in Africa before now to cement our efforts on testing, tracking and treating. We have had significant learning since the start of the outbreak of the virus and we need to capitalize on this and continue learning in order to move forward. On 14th February 2020, Africa had its first COVID-19 case. As of today, we are at almost 1 million cases. It is alarming to see the way the number of cases are accelerating, but we don’t need to panic. Instead of the flight approach, Africa needs to take the fight approach.

"As we move ahead as a continent, we need to avoid haphazard interventions, in order to avoid damaging crises. "

Amit N. Thakker

Executive Chairman, Africa Health Business

"We need to apply innovation in order to adapt our hospitals so they can continue addressing COVID-19 without disrupting existing services."

John Nkengasong

Director, Africa CDC

"This is the time to think about public-private partnerships. It’s one thing to have access to solutions and another thing to actually carry them out."

Renuka Gadde

Vice President Global Health, BD