Why AHAIC 2027 Could Be A Defining Conversation For Africa’s Health Future
AHAIC 2027
As global health financing, technology and development cooperation undergo profound change, AHAIC 2027 will bring Africa and the world together in Kigali to explore how the continent can build healthier, more resilient and sovereign health systems, and how new forms of partnership can help turn ambition into action.
Kigali will host leaders from across Africa and the world from 28 February to 3 March 2027 for the Africa Health Agenda International Conference, as the continent confronts a rapidly changing health and development landscape.
Africa’s health landscape is entering a defining period. The financing environment that has supported health programmes across the continent for decades is changing. Climate change is placing new pressures on communities and health systems. Countries are confronting infectious diseases alongside a growing burden of non-communicable diseases. New technologies, including artificial intelligence, are opening possibilities for how care is delivered, while persistent health workforce shortages continue to challenge access to quality services.
These shifts are raising an increasingly urgent question: What will it take for Africa to build health systems that are resilient, sustainable and increasingly able to respond to the continent’s own priorities?
That question will be at the centre of the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC 2027), taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 28 February to 3 March 2027, convened by Amref Health Africa, Africa CDC, WHO AFRO and the Ministry of Health Rwanda, under the theme “From Dialogue to Delivery: Redesigning Africa’s Ecosystem for a Healthy, Sovereign Future”. AHAIC 2027 will bring together governments, health workers, communities, researchers, civil society, young leaders, development partners, investors, innovators and the private sector to confront some of the most consequential questions facing health in Africa.
From treating illness to producing health
A central conversation at AHAIC 2027 will be how African health systems can move beyond responding to illness towards producing and sustaining health. For millions of families, illness can quickly become an economic crisis as well as a health crisis. Building healthier societies therefore requires investment long before someone reaches a hospital, from vaccination, nutrition and healthier environments to community health, early diagnosis and strong primary healthcare.
At the same time, countries must confront the question of how these systems will be financed. With traditional development assistance becoming less predictable and governments facing competing demands on limited public resources, AHAIC will explore approaches to sustainable health financing, greater domestic investment and more effective use of existing resources.
What does health sovereignty look like in practice?
Health sovereignty will be another important part of the conversation.
Greater sovereignty does not mean isolation. Pandemics, climate change, antimicrobial resistance, health workforce shortages and emerging technologies do not respect national borders. International cooperation remains essential.
Rather, the discussion is increasingly about strengthening the ability of African countries and institutions to determine priorities, generate knowledge, finance health, develop their workforce, harness their data and innovation, and build more of the products and capabilities their health systems need.
It also requires rethinking partnerships by moving beyond traditional donor-recipient relationships towards models built around shared priorities, investment, knowledge exchange, innovation and mutual accountability.
African solutions with global relevance
AHAIC 2027 will also spotlight the ideas and innovations emerging across the continent. From community-based models of care and digital health solutions to new approaches to financing, climate resilience and disease prevention, Africa is not only developing solutions for African challenges. Many of these experiences have lessons for health systems globally.
It is an opportunity for the world to engage with Africa as a source of leadership, knowledge and innovation and for African and international partners to jointly explore what a more equitable and effective future for global health could look like.