Gatefield to convene health summit on scaling health innovations across Africa

Gatefield, a public strategy and media group, will convene health policymakers, innovators, and creative-sector leaders in Abuja on 21 and 22 October to discuss how to expand successful health interventions and integrate them into wider health systems.

The 2026 Gatefield Health Summit, themed “Scaling What Works,” will focus on the policy, financing and institutional barriers that limit the expansion of proven health solutions across Africa.

The event, which will also be accessible virtually, is expected to bring together stakeholders to examine how grassroots initiatives, digital health tools and locally developed solutions can move beyond isolated successes and reach more communities.

Building on 2025 discussions

The summit comes a year after the inaugural edition, where experts and policymakers called for stronger domestic health financing, community-led innovation and greater use of data and local expertise to build resilient health systems.

Participants at the 2025 summit also raised concerns about the sustainability of health interventions that rely heavily on external funding, while advocating greater investment in locally developed solutions and stronger community ownership of health programmes.

The discussions also highlighted the need for African countries to use evidence, research and local expertise more effectively in shaping health policies and designing health systems.

Building on those concerns, this year’s summit will focus on what is required to move effective interventions from individual projects to wider adoption.

Speaking on the focus of the summit, Gatefield’s Public Health Lead, Omei Bongos, said many effective health solutions were already being developed and implemented across Africa but faced barriers that limited their expansion.

Ms Bongos said bringing stakeholders from different parts of the health ecosystem together would help create the conditions needed to expand such interventions.

“Effective, high-impact health solutions are already thriving across Africa. However, their growth is stalled by a missing institutional backbone, from essential capital to conducive policy frameworks”.

“By uniting key stakeholders across the ecosystem, this summit seeks to drive these solutions into every community,” she said.

Longevity

A major feature of the two-day event will be the launch of a new Gatefield report examining the factors driving premature mortality in Africa, with a particular focus on Nigeria.

The findings are expected to inform discussions on longevity and the wider factors that determine how long and how well people live.

The programme will examine issues beyond medical treatment, including food and agricultural systems and their role in addressing the rising burden of non-communicable diseases.

It will also explore the use of film, digital culture and other creative industries to influence health behaviour and communicate public health messages to wider audiences.

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Speakers

Confirmed speakers include Siddhartha Prakash, Head of Global Health at the World Intellectual Property Organisation; Senator Ipalibo Banigo, Chair of the Nigerian Senate Health Committee; Shina Arogundade, Chief Executive Officer of MyItura; Osita Okonkwo, Country Director of Nutrition International; and Jamila Yakubu, Director of Programme Medicines at Zipline.

Other global health leaders are expected to participate in the event.