Healthcare Tech Firms on Rise in Africa, Spurred by Covid-19

Healthcare-focused technology companies are springing up across sub-Saharan Africa after the coronavirus pandemic highlighted gaps in the continent’s medical-supplies chain, according to a new report funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

More than 60 new and existing private firms are now distributing health products to consumers and hospitals via technology across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, Salient Advisory, a health-care consulting firm, said in the report. The Covid-19 outbreak has also encouraged new entrants in telemedicine, or long-distance patient treatment, it said.