Africa has the youngest population and one of the highest entrepreneurship rates in the world, which adds up to a major opportunity to fuel innovation in healthcare. The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award is the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)’s and Speak Up Africa’s response, an exciting flagship program for young entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector.

Launched in 2021, the first edition of the Award focused on solutions that supported, equipped, protected, and trained healthcare workers working tirelessly to protect and treat the public amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The second edition of the Award focused on innovations that advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Award winners receive funding and in-kind support, including business mentorship, expert advice on intellectual property (IP) rights, media training, and access to a global network of supporters in health, technology, and media. The Awards are also supported by an esteemed group of jury members who participate in the shortlisting and selection of the Awardees.

Advancing women innovators

Bridging the gender gap in science and innovation is a core part of the Awards program, especially drawing on lessons from the first edition of the Awards. Only one-fifth of applicants of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award were women in the first edition.

Reacting to this, IFPMA and Speak Up Africa launched the Women Innovators Incubator program as part of the 2021 Award to address the significant imbalances between men and women in access to funding, training and skills development, professional networks, and overall participation in competitive environments. For the second edition of the Awards program, first and second-place prizes were awarded to two women and two men.

In tandem, Speak Up—together with its partners Amazon Web Services, Digital Health Network, Intrahealth, PATH Qhala, and UNICEF— launched the African Women in Digital Health movement (AWiDH) to strengthen the commitment and leadership of women in digital health in Africa. As part of Africa CDC Digital Transformation Strategy, this movement brings together stakeholders from various sectors, including digital, gender, and global health, to eliminate the gender-related digital divide and bolster women’s leadership and engagement in digital health.