The COVID-19 pandemic has galvanized the development of more than 120 health technology innovations that have been piloted or adopted in Africa, a new WHO study finds.
The study of 1 000 new or modifications of existing technologies that have been developed worldwide to target different areas of the COVID-19 response finds that Africa accounts for 13% of the innovations. The response areas include surveillance, contact tracing, community engagement, treatment, laboratory systems and infection prevention and control (IPC).
In Africa, 57.8% of the technologies were ICT-driven, 25% were based on 3D printing and 10.9% were robotics. The ICT-based innovations include WhatsApp Chatbots in South Africa, self-diagnostic tools in Angola, contact tracing apps in Ghana and mobile health information tools in Nigeria. The countries with the most innovations were South Africa (13%), Kenya (10%), Nigeria (8%) and Rwanda (6%).
Earlier this year, all 47 African Member-States in the WHO African Region adopted a WHO strategy for scaling up health innovations in Africa. By 2023, 80% of all Member States agreed to perform needs assessments to identify critical gaps in their health systems and establish coordination mechanisms to scale up innovations.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa has created a global database of innovations to share knowledge, ideas and successes, as well as set up a COVID-19 technology access pool to share intellectual property and data. The inaugural WHO health innovation challenge, which aimed to tackle some of the most pressing health needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations, included 2400 entries, including from 44 African countries.
WHO thanks all donors and partners who have contributed to fund the Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to combat COVID-19. A special appreciation goes to Member States and other contributors who provided flexible funds, making it possible for WHO to deliver a coherent, strategic and broad response.
Visit the WHO/AFRO website to learn more about COVID-19 innovation in Africa