Nigeria's Health Minister calls for digital infrastructure before AI adoption in Africa

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, has stated that African nations must establish intelligent digital health infrastructure before they can fully utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI). Speaking at the Fifth Africa Healthtech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, Salako emphasized that while Africa has shown innovation through telemedicine, electronic medical records, and surveillance systems, the challenge lies in connecting these tools into sustainable national systems.

Salako noted that previous digital health investments often resulted in fragmented, programme-specific solutions that could not communicate with one another. To address this, Nigeria is focusing on architecture rather than individual applications. Through the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative, the country has developed the National Digital Health Architecture (NDHA), which serves as a national blueprint to guide the evolution of the country’s digital health ecosystem and support service delivery, governance, and financing.