Data is the new vaccine: building trustworthy patient-data ecosystems in Africa

In this era of connectivity and AI, data can definitely become the goldmine to save lives when it is complete, connected and trusted. Across Africa, policymakers and innovators are shifting from reactive, paper-heavy systems to learning health systems that use timely, high-quality data to prevent disease, target resources and personalise care. This article sets out how Africa can build trustworthy patient-data ecosystems, not about hype, but rather rooted in ethics and interoperability.

Why data quality and trust are now mission-critical

Since almost five years now, the WHO’s global strategy on digital health has emphasised safe, secure data use, interoperable systems and people-centred design as prerequisites for scale. At the continental level, the African Union’s Data Policy Framework and Africa Centre of Disease Control’s work on health-data governance are also laying foundations for cross-border collaboration and secure data flows, which is critical for surveillance, referrals and research. But on the field, it is still a totally different reality where Africa in its globality remains dependent paper-based data collection systems, each country filling the gap at its own speed.

What trustworthy patient-data ecosystems look like

For an efficient digitalised African health system, a credible data ecosystem would have five pillars:

Governance and consent

Obviously, clear rules for privacy, ethics, secondary use and cross-border exchange are a must.  Community engagement will also be crucial to earn social licence and have patients and their relatives onboarding this new model.

Interoperability

Common standards and nomenclature, as it is the case for professions such as chartered accountants, will be helpful to build a panafrican ecosystem, so that records can be shared safely. And this is something already in progress on a worldwide level. For instance, ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases), the global standard for diagnostic health information, is available in 10 languages, making it possible for public health professionals to collaborate even when speaking different languages.

Formed in early 2013, the OpenHIE (Open Health Information Exchange) community of practice took its roots from the work that initially began in 2009 to establish the Rwandan Health Information Exchange (RHIE). As the benefits of the approach adopted in Rwanda became apparent, interest gathered from other countries, such as Botswana, Côte-d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and South Africa looking to apply similar architectural tactics within their environments.

Secure, resilient infrastructure

No digital health or patient-data ecosystems can remain sustainable without a solid backbone. Trusted cloud or national data centres, audit trails, identity and access management continuity planning for outages are some of the few pre-requirements for building this reliable patient-data ecosystem in Africa. However, according to the Africa Data Centres Association, up to date, Africa is home to 307 megawatts (MW) of worldwide data centre capacity, which is less than 2% of the global total, with most of this capacity located in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. A few more African countries are able to support the data center and cloud services ecosystem, as at least 1,200 MW of new capacity is necessary by 2030 to meet the continent’s demand for digital services.

Data quality and use

With common standards and nomenclature as mentioned above, setting up unique patient identifiers, longitudinal records, and routine analytics for action can help to provide a fluid and concerted diagnosis across all the parties of the patient healthcare pathway.

Equity by design

Reaching full connectivity and electrification of the continent is still an ongoing process. Which is why offline-first tools should be included to maintain access to patient-data, despite potential Internet or power outages. Apart from offline access, having multilingual UIs is a no-brainer; not only for Africa official languages, but including progressively local widely spoken languages such as wolof in Senegal, Hausa or Bambara in West Africa can help build a more inclusive and Africa-centred ecosystem. On the diagnosis side, AI algorithmic bias should be taken in consideration and avoided from the beginning to provide context-related feedback. This last point will depend strongly on local datasets to ensure relevance.

This might make it look like not much is happening for the digitalisation of patient-data systems in Africa. Fortunately, there are already some relevant success-stories in Africa currently taking place.

Case studies: trusted data in action

Morocco - shared patient record (Dossier Médical Partagé)

Beginning of 2024, Morocco’s Ministry of Health launched the ‘Dossier Médical Partagé’ (DMP), a shared electronic record designed to improve continuity of care and e-claims, anchoring data governance within national reform and setting a host-country benchmark for Gitex Future Health Africa.

Kenya - health financing rails meet patient data

The M-TIBA health platform links mobile money with enrolment and claims data, enabling targeted benefits and better continuity across providers. With appropriate consent and safeguards, these rails help build longitudinal patient records.

Ghana - national e-pharmacy and structured dispensing data

Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority has piloted and scaled a National e-Pharmacy Programme, that captures structured prescription and dispensing data for pharmacovigilance and fraud reduction.

Rwanda - logistics and registries feed timely clinical decisions

Zipline’s medical drone network has reduced delays in blood delivery and created high-frequency supply data that can link with facility registries for better planning. Evidence and reporting.

South Africa - national mHealth for maternal and child health

MomConnect is a national SMS/USSD service that registers pregnancies and captures patient feedback at scale—showing how inclusive, low-cost data channels strengthen services.

More of these success-stories can be developed all over Africa, only if the following non-negotiable conditions are ensured rapidly.

Infrastructure and equity: design for power cuts and low bandwidth

Data ecosystems fail if they assume perfect connectivity. Persistent electricity instability remains a binding constraint for health facilities in parts of Africa. It is necessary to remember that about 600 million people - roughly 43% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population - still lack access to electricity, and many connected facilities face routine outages. Design responses should therefore include solar-backed power for clinics, offline-first apps with background sync, light payloads (text over images), and edge computing for triage. These choices are not nice-to-haves; they are prerequisites for reliability and trust.

From pilots to platforms: financing and governance

Trustworthy data ecosystems need sustainable financing, not just short donor cycles. Countries that progress fastest pair a national architecture (standards, registries, unique IDs) with pragmatic procurement and public-private collaboration. Adoption of DHIS2 (District Health Information Software 2) across many African ministries shows how shared infrastructure accelerates learning when combined with country ownership.

The road to GITEX FUTURE HEALTH Africa 2026 in Casablanca

All this to say digital patient-data ecosystem is possible. All it will take is African governments prioritisation, paired with the five main pillars mentioned above and, indeed, sustainable financing and governance, as well as reliable infrastructure, tailored to the African context. That is why GITEX FUTURE HEALTH Africa 2026 will gather:

• Ministries of Health presenting national digital-health strategies;
• Tech innovators unveiling context-specific AI tools;
• NGOs and investors focusing on equitable access and capacity building;
• Practitioners and patients sharing lived experience.

Expect discussions on predictive AI, co-design case studies, governance frameworks and sustainable financing models.

Key takeaways for Gitex Future Health Africa 2026

• Trust is the product: build governance and consent alongside the tech.
• Interoperability first: adopt international standards  where appropriate.
• Reliability matters: design for outages and low bandwidth from day one.
• Scale is a policy choice: finance national platforms and capacity, not just pilots.