Technology

Announcing “Future of Health II – Health meets Tech”

3 Mins read

We are announcing our second annual flagship event – “The Future of Health Conference.” This year’s theme is “Health meets Tech.”

The Nigerian healthcare system is currently struggling on many fronts, from inadequate infrastructure, shortage of personnel, persistent strikes, inadequate training, and lack of efficient public private partnerships. At the same time, innovations in technology have driven the growth in other sectors such as banking and telecommunications, and many organisations are beginning to see nascent opportunities in the health space.

FoHC 2

It is at the convergence of health and technology that surprising solutions may be found to leapfrog stages of development in Nigeria.

Right now, the Nigerian health sector seems to be stuck in the “analog” age. From data management and patient care to medical procedures and specialist training, Nigeria is lagging behind the cutting edge technological momentum of the 21st century. Innovations in mHealth and ehealth are being implemented in small doses around the country but they lack visibility and scale. Where other countries are investing in drone delivered vaccines, cloud data management and tele-medicine, the Nigerian health system is largely still stuck in the age of a manually transported office file.

The Future of Health Conference 2016 will facilitate the convergence of players in both the health and technology sectors, to spark discussions that will lead to better collaboration between the two sectors

 “From Innovation to Implementation.”

Just like our first successful event we think that the spark points for rapid growth can be found at intersections. The “Future of Health Conference II”  will bring together leaders and innovators in both the health and technology sectors, to spark discussions that will lead to better collaboration between the two sectors – and hopefully spark the change we seek.

The Leaders

The first session of the conference, entitled, “The Leaders,” will highlight the ideas and inspired thinking of a unique generation of thinkers and leaders in the health sector– From Ernest Madu, cardiologist and entrepreneur who leads Heart Institute of the Caribbean, to Olufemi Akingbade who until recently led the National Health Insurance Scheme; from Mairo Mandara who leads the Gates Foundation in Nigeria, to Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq of the Private Sector Health Alliance; from Chukwuemeka Afigbo of the new tech firm Facebook, to Akinwumi Fajola of the old tech firm Shell, we will bring together decision makers in public and private firms, in for-profit and not-for-profit to share their opinions on how to bring these two sectors together.

The Game Changers

The second session belongs to the “Game Changers” and brings together a unique set of health sector entrepreneurs who have chosen the path less travelled and have literally transformed their areas of engagement. Ola Orekunrin, founder of “Flying Doctors” and Seun Onigbinde, founder of BudgIT need no introduction in Nigeria. Saidu Abdullahi is Public Sector Director at Oracle, while Oghogho Olakunri is a consultant with GE Healthcare Partners. The entrepreneur Nana Twun-Danso has taken years of experience in health care and combined it with a business education to solve some of the continent’s toughest problems, and Okey Okuzu is literally bringing the spirit of entrepreneurism to a sector that sorely needs it.

the disrupters

The final session is dedicated to “The Disrupters” and features a set of people who are already igniting change in the health sector by using technology to overcome some of our toughest challenges and inspiring action. Chibuzo Opara is the co-founder of DrugStoc, a healthcare IT and logistics platform, while Lawal Bakare leads EbolaAlert, an innovative web-based platform that was at the heart of Nigeria’s response to the Ebola outbreak in 2015. Aschkan Malek is CEO of AlemHealth which creates products especially for frontier markets, while Simpa Dania is the CEO of Sabaoth Technologies Ltd. which focuses on implementing information management systems for hospitals. Adam Thompson is the Executive Director of eHealth Africa, which is bringing IT to improve efficiency of healthcare delivery in some of the toughest areas and Ime Asangansi, CEO of eHealth4everyone, a leading digital health social enterprise.

This has never been done before, but after the extraordinary success of the first edition of The Future of Health Conference in 2015, we are raising the bar to organise what will be the most exciting conference in the Nigerian health sector this year.

This year’s event holds on Thursday, the 22nd of September 2016, at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja. You can keep up with  conference updates here and by following our Twitter handle.

Apply to attend Future of Health II; Health meets Tech here.

 

Our key Partners in the 2016 Conference are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook, the Private Sector Health Alliance and Shell Petroleum Development Corporation.  We will be announcing some interesting collaborative projects shortly, so watch this space.

We are also grateful to support from the TY Danjuma Foundation, Christian AID International as well as ProHealth International. We will invite you to learn more about their fascinating projects with them during the breaks at the conference.

 

 

Related posts
Technology

Special Announcement – Call for Applications for the Health Meets Tech App Challenge

1 Mins read
EpiAfric and Digital Health Nigeria proudly announce a call for applications for the Health Meets Tech Application Challenge, holding between June 30th…
HealthTechnology

Health Meets Tech Application Challenge

1 Mins read
Are you a health worker or techie looking to improve Nigerian healthcare via technology? EpiAfric and Digital Health Nigeria invite you to…
Technology

Genetically Modified Foods and Health; One Doctor's Perspective

4 Mins read
Editor’s Note: Prof. Shima Gyoh is a renowned surgeon, Professor of Surgery at Benue State University, and Former Permanent Secretary of the…

5 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *