***Says Technology Without Skilled Workforce Risks Failure in Health Reforms
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has urged African governments to make massive investments in digital health skilling, describing it as the backbone for sustainable healthcare delivery, innovation, and economic growth across the continent.
Speaking at the 2025 Africa Health Tech Summit (AHTS) held on Monday at the Kigali Convention Centre, Rwanda, Dr. Salako said technology alone cannot transform Africa’s health systems without a digitally empowered workforce capable of deploying, maintaining, and optimizing innovation.
“Technology is only as good as the people who use it. Without a digitally empowered workforce, we risk building systems that look modern but operate inefficiently,” Salako said. “Investing in digital health skilling is an investment in the future of healthcare itself.”
He described digital health training as both an economic and moral imperative, calling for stronger collaboration between governments, academia, innovators, and development partners to establish regional centres of excellence for research, innovation, and capacity development.
Highlighting Nigeria’s progress, the minister noted that under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the country launched the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative (NDHI) to create a unified, secure, and interoperable health data ecosystem guided by the Nigeria Digital Health Strategy 2021–2025.
“Our goal is to ensure that every health worker from the most remote primary health centre to the most advanced tertiary hospital is equipped to use digital tools for healthcare delivery, reporting, and decision-making,” he said. “Digital transformation is not about replacing human expertise; it is about amplifying it.”
Dr. Salako revealed that 76% of federal tertiary health institutions in Nigeria have achieved between 50% to 100% digitization, with similar efforts ongoing at state and local levels. He added that the federal government is supporting sub-national entities and private sector partners to achieve full integration and aims to establish a National Health Information Exchange by 2027.
He further stressed that digital literacy among citizens must also improve to ensure equitable adoption of health technologies.
“The case for digital health skilling in Africa is no longer optional it is practical, urgent, and transformational,” Salako declared. “Let us make digital literacy a basic competency for every health worker and ensure that every investment in technology is matched by investment in people.”
Concluding, he called for a united African front in digital health transformation, 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.”
