Innovate Health Hub

08/01/2026

OpenAI Introduces ChatGPT Health: This week, OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health, a dedicated health experience designed to help people better understand and engage with their health information.

ChatGPT Health will enable users to interact with their health data (including medical records and wellness apps) through simple, conversational language.

With hundreds of millions already turning to ChatGPT weekly for health questions, this built-in experience acknowledges a huge unmet need: helping people make sense of fragmented data and complex systems.

At Innovate Health Hub, we believe tools like ChatGPT Health, when used responsibly and ethically, can help close health literacy gaps and empower individuals to take a more proactive role in their well-being.

However, the big question isn’t whether this will shape the future of health; it’s how we design and govern it to better serve people.

👇 What opportunities or concerns do you see with AI-powered personal health tools like ChatGPT Health?

07/01/2026

Call for Applications: HSIL Hackathon 2026

The Health Systems Innovation Lab (HSIL) at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health invites innovators worldwide to apply for the HSIL Hackathon 2026.

Theme: Building High-Value Health Systems: Leveraging AI
📅 Hackathon: 10–11 April 2026
📝 Apply by: 30 January 2026

Open to students, clinicians, technologists, designers, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
Apply solo or as a team.
Build AI-powered solutions, get mentorship, and pitch to global experts.

🔗 Apply here: https://hsph.harvard.edu/research/health-systems-innovation-lab/work/hsil-hackathon-2026-building-high-value-health-systems-leveraging-ai/

06/01/2026

Africa’s digital health market is on a steep growth trajectory, with a projected 23.4% CAGR between 2024 and 2030. Here are four major technologies driving the market.

𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡

✅ Largest and fastest-growing segment

✅ Driven by specialist shortages, rural access gaps, and post-COVID normalisation of remote care

✅ Particularly relevant for fragile and underserved settings

𝐦𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡

✅ Strong growth aligned with high mobile pe*******on

✅ Enables prevention, adherence, community health, and task-shifting

✅ Low-cost, scalable, and population-level impact

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬

✅ Smaller share today, but strategically critical

✅ Growth reflects increasing digitisation of health records, surveillance, and donor reporting

✅ Essential for outbreak response, planning, and performance management

𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬

✅ Steady expansion tied to national digital health strategies

✅ Includes EHRs, DHIS2 integrations, supply chain and financing platforms

✅ Adoption often led by governments and development partners

05/01/2026

Healthcare challenges are complex, and solving them starts with a deep understanding of people, systems, and context.

This webinar video by Innovate Health Hub explains design thinking in healthcare: a human-centred approach to understanding real problems and building solutions that work in the real world.

🎥 Watch the video, and learn how to move from problems to practical innovation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSVtlSmwAFw

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

05/01/2026

The Africa CDC has issued a landmark Communiqué urging African countries to commit to the digitalisation of 90% of Primary Health Care systems by 2035.
What this means for health innovation in Africa:
✅ Market Creation: The move toward widespread Electronic Medical Records (EMR) alone is estimated to create an annual market of over $40 billion. This represents an unprecedented opportunity for African tech startups, local manufacturers, and software developers to build solutions in Africa, for Africa.
✅ Data-Driven Resilience: With disease outbreaks on the rise, digitised community surveillance can detect threats earlier. This demand for real-time data will drive innovation in AI, predictive analytics, and mobile health connectivity.
✅ Economic ROI: The math is compelling. Every $1 invested in digital PHC transformation yields $6–$ 10 in returns. This efficiency will likely attract new waves of impact investment and venture capital into the African health-tech ecosystem.
✅ Interoperability is the New Gold Standard: The mandate calls for "continentally agreed digital health functionality standards." Startups that are building walled gardens will lose, but it will be a win for innovators building open, interoperable APIs that connect community health workers to "national grids".

📌 Where do you see the biggest opportunities to innovate in Primary health care in 2026?

Read the full outcome statement here: https://africacdc.org/news-item/communique-outcome-statement-by-africa-cdcs-primary-health-care-phc-digitalization-expert-committee/

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27th November 2025“A bold call for African Union Heads of State to commit to digitalizing at least 90% of Africa’s Primary Health Care systems, including community health systems, by 2035 as a cornerstone of Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty (AHSS) Agenda.” On N...

03/01/2026

If you couldn’t join our Health Meets Tech webinar, the full session is now available on YouTube.
We explore how healthcare and technology come together to create practical and scalable solutions.

Watch here:

Healthcare is changing and technology is at the centre of that transformation.In this episode of Innovate Health Hub, we explore how health and technology i...

25/12/2025

19/12/2025

World Health Organization has published the updated Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020–2027 : a roadmap to harness digital technologies to improve health outcomes for everyone, everywhere.

This strategy underscores the central role of digital health solutions in achieving equitable, efficient, and resilient health systems.

Highlights from the strategy:

▪ Integrated National Planning: Promotes health system transformation guided by robust digital health strategies that align financing, governance, workforce, and technology deployment.
▪ Evidence-Driven Digital Health: Encourages use of data, interoperability standards, and evidence to inform digital solutions and strengthen decision-making.
▪ Capacity & Knowledge Sharing: Supports scientific communities of practice and training to build capabilities across countries.
▪ User-Centred Solutions: Stresses the importance of meeting local needs, prioritising equity, accessibility, and ethical deployment of technologies like AI and telehealth.
▪ Implementation & Governance: Emphasises strong governance, data protection, and accountability as core to scaling digital health safely and sustainably.

Full report 👉: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240116870

16/12/2025

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚
Health tech is fast becoming one of Africa’s most dynamic and transformative innovation sectors, reshaping how millions access care, manage disease, and interact with health systems.
From mobile diagnostics and telemedicine to digital supply chains and health financing platforms, startups across the continent are tackling long-standing challenges in affordability, accessibility, and efficiency.

💡 But while demand for tech-driven healthcare continues to soar, scaling these solutions depends heavily on access to sustainable and appropriate funding.

📌 Here is a guide to key investors and funding programs supporting African HealthTech startups across different growth stages.

🔗 Explore the full article and discover who’s fueling Africa’s next wave of health innovation: https://lnkd.in/etNT_jD5

15/12/2025

From Nairobi to Lagos, and from Cairo to Cape Town, a new wave of African health-tech founders is addressing challenges that have weakened health systems for decades. Many communities still face chronic shortages of health professionals, limited access to essential medicines, and a lack of reliable diagnostic services.

These startups are stepping in with practical, technology-driven solutions.

Learn more : https://lnkd.in/eRKYYnVz

13/12/2025

𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
This chart tells a powerful story: Africa’s digital health market is on a steep growth trajectory, with a projected 23.4% CAGR between 2024 - 2030.

Here are four major technologies driving the market.

𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡
✅ Largest and fastest-growing segment
✅ Driven by specialist shortages, rural access gaps, and post-COVID normalisation of remote care
✅ Particularly relevant for fragile and underserved settings

𝐦𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡
✅ Strong growth aligned with high mobile pe*******on
✅ Enables prevention, adherence, community health, and task-shifting
✅ Low-cost, scalable, and population-level impact

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬
✅ Smaller share today, but strategically critical
✅ Growth reflects increasing digitisation of health records, surveillance, and donor reporting
✅ Essential for outbreak response, planning, and performance management

𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬
✅ Steady expansion tied to national digital health strategies
✅ Includes EHRs, DHIS2 integrations, supply chain and financing platforms
✅ Adoption often led by governments and development partners

Which part of Africa’s digital health ecosystem are you working on or most excited about?

12/12/2025

Startup Spotlight: MYDAWA — Kenya 🇰🇪

Access to safe and affordable medicines remains a challenge for many people, driven by counterfeit drugs, long pharmacy queues, and limited access to reliable health services.
MYDAWA is building a trusted digital pharmacy and health e-commerce platform in Kenya to address these challenges.

Founded in Nairobi, myDawa enables people to order genuine medicines, wellness products, and health essentials online, with secure home delivery.
MyDawa is redefining how healthcare products are accessed through :

✅ End-to-end digital pharmacy ensuring medicine authenticity
✅ Online prescription management and refill services
✅ Integration with healthcare providers and insurers

🔗 Learn more: https://mydawa.com/