The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, has issued a strategic call for African nations to prioritize the development of robust, interoperable digital health architectures before fully embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in clinical and administrative workflows. Speaking at the Fifth Africa Healthtech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, Dr. Salako emphasized that while the continent is teeming with individual digital innovations, the lack of systemic integration remains a fundamental bottleneck that threatens the sustainability and scalability of modern health technology.

The summit, themed "From Digital Ambition to Country Transformation: Building Sustainable and Intelligent Health Systems in Africa," gathered policymakers, technology innovators, and global health experts to deliberate on how the continent can move beyond pilot projects toward meaningful, nationwide healthcare delivery. Dr. Salako’s address highlighted that the era of isolated, "siloed" digital health solutions must give way to a unified national framework if African countries are to achieve universal health coverage goals.

The Shift from Fragmentation to Integration

For years, African digital health initiatives have been characterized by rapid, fragmented growth. Various non-governmental organizations, private startups, and international aid agencies have deployed localized telemedicine platforms, electronic medical record (EMR) systems, and supply chain tracking tools. While these tools have provided immediate relief in specific pockets of the healthcare landscape, they often lack the capacity to communicate with one another.

Dr. Salako noted that digitizing a fragmented system does not inherently create an integrated one. In his address, he drew on Nigeria’s own historical experiences with digital health adoption, admitting that previous investments, while well-intentioned, often failed to provide the necessary value for money because they operated in vacuums. "The question is no longer whether Africa can innovate," the Minister stated. "The question is whether we can connect these innovations into sustainable national systems that improve the lives of our people."

Nigeria’s Strategic Roadmap: The National Digital Health Architecture

To address these inefficiencies, the Nigerian government has shifted its focus from application development to infrastructure design. Under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, the government has adopted a sector-wide approach to digitize the health ecosystem. Central to this strategy is the development of the National Digital Health Architecture (NDHA), a blueprint endorsed by the National Council on Health to govern the evolution of digital systems across the country.

This architecture acts as a foundational "operating system" for the nation’s health data. By establishing standardized protocols, the NDHA aims to move away from the proliferation of incompatible software. The goal is to implement a "one patient, one health record" system, where a patient’s medical history can follow them seamlessly from a rural primary health center to an urban teaching hospital.

To achieve this, Nigeria is currently building the Health Information Exchange (HIE). This platform includes:

• Shared Health Records: A secure repository of clinical data accessible to authorized providers.
• National Registries: Unified databases for patient identification, health facility mapping, and the certification of healthcare professionals.
• Standardized Interoperability: A set of technical rules that ensure different EMR systems can share data without loss of context or integrity.

Strengthening Governance: The Role of the National Health Technology and Data Analytics Office

Recognizing that technology without oversight is prone to failure, President Bola Tinubu recently established the National Health Technology and Data Analytics Office. This body is tasked with the critical role of governance, ensuring that both public and private health technology initiatives align with the national agenda.

The office serves three primary functions:

1. Harmonization: Ensuring that private sector innovations and public sector mandates are integrated into the NDHA.
2. Standardization: Enforcing technical and security standards across all health data platforms.
3. Supervision: Overseeing the long-term operationalization of digital infrastructure to prevent the return to fragmented, project-based deployments.

Why AI Requires a Stable Foundation

The surge in global interest surrounding Artificial Intelligence has created a "hype cycle" that, according to Dr. Salako, risks distracting African nations from foundational necessities. AI systems are notoriously data-hungry; they require vast, clean, and organized datasets to function effectively. In environments where data is siloed, inaccurate, or non-existent, AI models are prone to "hallucinations," bias, and irrelevance.

"AI cannot compensate for fragmented data, weak standards, or systems that cannot communicate," the Minister warned. His position is supported by health data analysts who point out that without an interoperable infrastructure, AI tools would only provide insights based on incomplete snapshots of patient health.

For Africa to truly benefit from AI, Dr. Salako argued that governments must focus on five pillars:

• Interoperable Architecture: The pipes through which data flows.
• Trustworthy Data: Ensuring that the information being fed into systems is accurate and ethically sourced.
• Cybersecurity: Protecting patient privacy in an increasingly digital environment.
• Governance: Creating legal frameworks that define who owns, manages, and uses health data.
• Human Capital: Training a workforce capable of managing and interpreting complex digital systems.

Broader Implications for African Healthcare

The implications of this policy shift extend far beyond administrative convenience. By building systems that can "learn, connect, anticipate, and respond," African nations could gain the ability to conduct real-time disease surveillance. For example, a unified, national digital health system could alert authorities to a medicine shortage in a remote province within hours, rather than weeks, or identify an emerging outbreak before it reaches pandemic levels.

Furthermore, the emphasis on "digital sovereignty" is becoming a critical component of the discussion. Dr. Salako urged African nations to move beyond being mere consumers of foreign-developed health technology. By defining their own standards and governing their own data, African countries can ensure that the health technology sector remains tailored to their specific epidemiological and socio-economic contexts.

The Human-Centric Mandate

Despite the focus on architecture, registries, and data exchanges, the Minister insisted that the ultimate metric of success remains the human experience. "Digital ambition should not ultimately be about technology," Dr. Salako said. "It should be about the pregnant woman who should receive safer care because the right information reaches the right health worker at the right time."

The vision presented in Kigali is one where technology reduces the burden on overstretched healthcare workers rather than adding to their administrative duties. By automating record-keeping and facilitating information sharing, digital systems can reclaim time for doctors and nurses, allowing them to focus on patient care.

A Call for Collaborative Investment

In his concluding remarks, Dr. Salako issued a challenge to international development partners and the private sector. He argued that investment must shift from short-term "project-based" funding—which often evaporates when a grant period ends—to long-term capacity building.

"Investments should leave behind stronger institutions, local capacity, and infrastructure that governments can sustain," he noted. By aligning global development capital with national digital health blueprints, the international community can help Africa avoid the pitfalls of the past, ensuring that the digital transformation of the health sector is inclusive, equitable, and, above all, permanent.

As Africa stands at the crossroads of a new technological era, the message from the Fifth Africa Healthtech Summit is clear: before the continent can reach for the artificial intelligence of the future, it must first master the digital foundation of the present. Through initiatives like Nigeria’s National Digital Health Architecture, the path toward a more connected, efficient, and responsive health system is being paved, one standard at a time.