In Africa, the development of mobile telephony has greatly impacted critical sectors, including healthcare. By leveraging its technologies, the GSMA and Africa CDC want to improve the lives of millions of people and improve disease control.

Last Wednesday, the GSM Association (GSMA) and the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) signed an agreement to harness the power of mobile to fight disease in Africa.

Under that agreement, the GSMA will work closely with Africa CDC on HealthConnekt Africa, a bold new initiative to connect all health facilities and personnel in Africa to the Internet by 2030.

“Bringing together expertise and resources will help establish a powerful new infrastructure, providing African healthcare workers access to the information they need in a timely fashion and the intelligence necessary to help prevent the spread of disease across international borders,” said Angela Wamola (photo, left), GSMA Head of Sub-Saharan Africa.

HealthConnekt Africa will begin with a small group of pioneering African Union member countries and communities. In the pioneering countries,  health facilities will be connected to the Internet, and health workers equipped with smart devices that will allow them access to critical online resources to improve the quality of care provided to patients.

Over the past two decades, Africa has recorded phenomenal growth in mobile adoption. According to the World Bank and the African Development Bank, Africa had 650 million cell phone users in 2013, more than the users in the United States or Europe. At the same time, Swedish telecommunications group Ericsson indicates that Africa’s smartphone penetration will reach 70% by 2024.

Samira Njoya