Only 18% of African countries have dedicated domestic funding for health information systems – WHO official
Only 18 per cent of countries in the World Health Organisation’s African Region have dedicated domestic funding for their health information systems, raising concerns about the sustainability of the data infrastructure used to guide health planning and service delivery.
The figure was disclosed by Dr Benson Droti, Team Lead for Health Information, Knowledge Management, Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, in an exclusive interview with JoyNews Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen ahead of the First Africa Health Data Forum scheduled for Nairobi, Kenya, from November 10 to 12, 2026.
Dr Droti said the Regional Health Information Systems Functionality Assessment conducted recently had identified financing as one of the major weaknesses in health information systems across African countries.
“From that assessment we found that only 18% of the countries have dedicated domestic funding for health information system,” he said.
He warned that countries that rely heavily on external development assistance to maintain these systems could face serious disruption when donor support is reduced or withdrawn.
“Recently with the reductions in the external development assistance, many of the systems that are donor dependent actually almost collapse in African countries,” he said.
His comments raise questions about how African governments are financing the systems that collect health data, who maintains the infrastructure, and whether countries can sustain essential data services when external funding is no longer available.
Fragmented systems, repeated reporting
The funding concern comes against a wider challenge of health information systems in many countries remaining fragmented, with separate programmes operating systems that do not always communicate with one another.
Dr Droti said some health programmes had developed their own information systems, partly because of the reporting requirements attached to donor-supported projects. Different technologies and the absence of common interoperability standards also make it difficult for the systems to exchange information.
He said limited coordination by central government had allowed some programmes to establish systems outside national health information frameworks.
The result, he said, is that health workers can be required to submit the same information to several authorities, increasing their administrative workload.
“We often say in WHO that data should be collected once, reported once and used several times,” Dr Droti said.
He argued that integrated systems should allow different platforms to communicate, rather than requiring every country to operate a single system.
The consequences can extend to the delivery of healthcare. Dr Droti gave the example of a rural health facility running out of essential medicines when stock information is not updated or connected to the supply chain. If authorities do not receive timely information, he said, they may take longer to identify shortages and respond.
He also cited a hypothetical district-level situation in which delayed reporting of rising malaria cases could slow the response by national authorities.
“Behind every missing data could be a patient who is not receiving the care that they need,” he said.
Dr Droti said weak information systems could also affect how resources are distributed, particularly when decision-makers lack the information needed to identify where health services and supplies are most urgently required.
Donor support and the future of population surveys
One area of concern he identified is the financing of population-level surveys, including Demographic and Health Surveys, which provide information on indicators such as mortality and access to health services.
Dr Droti said these surveys had traditionally received donor support, but that fewer donors were currently willing to finance the data collection.
He said governments would therefore need to increase domestic investment to ensure that countries continued collecting information needed to monitor health indicators and plan services.
“If you miss on collecting data to measure population level indicators, there's a lot that you miss,” he said.
He urged governments to include health information systems in national plans and budgets, arguing that reliance on development partners for the entire cost of these systems exposes countries to significant risks.
Data must inform decisions
Financing and integration are among the issues expected to feature at the First Africa Health Data Forum in Nairobi.
According to the forum's concept note, the November 10–12 meeting will bring together governments, WHO, development partners, technical institutions, academia, civil society and private-sector organisations to discuss country priorities and practical solutions for strengthening health data systems.
The discussions will cover data governance, interoperability, data analysis and use, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and investment in Africa's health data future.
Dr Droti said the WHO Regional Office for Africa had developed a Regional Health Data Hub to improve access to health data and intelligence for decision-making. He described it as an initiative intended to support evidence-informed action across countries.
He also cautioned against adopting artificial intelligence applications without the foundations needed to support them. These include reliable data, electricity, internet connectivity, skilled personnel and appropriate governance.
He said AI models developed elsewhere might not perform equally well in African settings because of differences in languages and disease patterns. Countries, he argued, should assess whether applications are safe, effective, fair and relevant to their own circumstances.
On the question of health data ownership, Dr Droti said technology companies could provide platforms and analytical tools, but that should not give them unrestricted control over national health data. Governments, he said, need clear rules covering data access, storage, sharing, processing and transfer across borders.
What should change by 2028?
Dr Droti outlined three changes he would like to see by the time the forum is expected to meet again in 2028. These include stronger national ownership and sustainable financing; better integration and interoperability between systems; and greater use of health intelligence in decision-making.
He wants health information systems embedded in national health plans and budgets, with countries investing in the data sources and infrastructure they need.
He also wants evidence to play a greater role in decisions on resource allocation, health workforce planning, disease prevention, service delivery and the monitoring of health programmes.
His message to African leaders is that investments in hospitals, medical equipment and health workers must be supported by reliable information to determine where facilities are needed, whether equipment is being used effectively and whether health workers are distributed according to need.
“Health information is not just an administrative cost, it is an investment in the effectiveness of every health investment,” he said.
For governments preparing to discuss the future of health data in Nairobi, the financing question is therefore centered on how much countries are prepared to commit from their own budgets to maintain the systems on which health planning depends.
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