A new kind of revolution is unfolding in African healthcare, one powered not by massive hospitals or costly medical equipment, but by small, intelligent tools transforming care at the community level. From mobile diagnostic apps to handheld ultrasound scanners, these technologies are redefining how people access diagnosis, treatment, and trust in their health systems. They are quietly closing the gap between patients and providers, bringing lifesaving innovation to pharmacies, community clinics, and even homes.
Digital health is no longer a futuristic ideal. It is an essential pathway to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Nigeria. Yet, the policy and financing systems that should enable its growth remain fragmented. Nigeria’s digital health landscape is vibrant with innovation, but without coherent policies, stronger infrastructure, and effective data governance, these technologies will remain isolated successes rather than parts of a connected system of care.
Across the continent, several nations are proving that digital innovation can work at scale. In Kenya, platforms like M-TIBA are transforming mobile phones into health wallets that allow people to save, pay, and receive insurance benefits instantly. In Rwanda, Zipline drones deliver blood and vaccines to remote communities in minutes, saving countless lives and reducing medical wastage. Ghana’s telemedicine hubs are improving maternal health outcomes and monitoring of non-communicable diseases (NCD) by linking rural nurses with urban specialists through real-time consultation.
These examples show what is possible when governments, innovators, and funders align around a single vision: to make healthcare more affordable, accessible, and accountable.
Nigeria, too, is experiencing a digital awakening. From telemedicine platforms that connect urban doctors with rural patients to startups digitising hospital records and pharmacy services, innovation is reshaping access to care. One example is Mobihealth International, which uses telemedicine and AI-assisted diagnostics to connect patients in underserved areas with licensed doctors across Nigeria and the diaspora. Through partnerships with government and private providers, including pilot telehealth clinics in Primary Healthcare (PHC) centres and pharmacy-based hubs, Mobihealth shows how locally driven innovation, supported by clear policy, can expand access and accelerate progress toward UHC.
Beyond telemedicine, the real transformation lies in point-of-care technologies, small diagnostic devices that bring the lab directly to patients. Digital glucometers, malaria rapid diagnostic tests, and AI-enabled handheld ultrasounds are already part of daily practice across hospitals and communities. These portable tools are not the future of healthcare; they are the present. What Nigeria now needs is a policy and financing framework that helps it scale sustainably.
Local lessons in Nigeria: MATS TB-Screening app
Several homegrown solutions are connecting the dots between community health workers, pharmacies, and public health facilities. Among them, one of the most promising examples is the Mobile Application for Tuberculosis Screening (MATS), developed by PharmAccess in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme (NTBLCP), the Global Fund, and the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN).
Initially implemented in the private sector and now adopted across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, MATS demonstrates how a locally designed digital solution can strengthen disease detection and surveillance nationwide. The tool has facilitated the screening of more than 3.4 million Nigerians, linking community pharmacies (CPs), proprietary patent medicine vendors (PPMVs), and public health facilities into a digital referral network. The app enables CPs and PPMVs to conduct point-of-care (POC) symptom screening, refer presumptive TB cases for confirmatory testing, and feed anonymised data directly into state and national TB surveillance systems. It has resulted in a significant increase in TB case detection and treatment enrolment.
This innovation has produced tangible outcomes:
Early detection: Patients are identified at the first point of care, usually at local pharmacies.
Integrated data: Real-time reporting improves public health surveillance and resource targeting.
Private sector inclusion: Community pharmacists and PPMVs, who serve millions daily, are now active contributors to national TB control efforts.
MATS offers more than a technological solution; it offers a governance model. It shows that when digital tools are co-designed by the private sector, embedded into public systems, and backed by policy support, innovation can scale equitably.
Barriers to scaling digital health in Nigeria
Despite these gains, digital health remains on the margins of Nigeria’s health system. The challenge is not innovation; it is integration.
Three barriers persist: financing, regulation, and political will. Public health budgets still favour physical infrastructure over digital connectivity, investing in buildings rather than the digital tools that could make every PHC centre smarter and more efficient. Regulators struggle to keep pace with rapid advances in artificial intelligence, mobile diagnostics, and medical decision support. And too often, promising pilots fade after the “demo” phase, held back by limited policy commitment and weak follow-through on national adoption.
Nigeria’s health system loves pilots; it’s time for them to take flight and become the new norm. To make that leap, Nigeria must move from project-based innovation to system-wide integration, where every health programme, from maternal care to malaria control, has a digital backbone. This is how innovation becomes institutionalised rather than experimental.
In today’s digital world, connectivity itself has become a determinant of health. To ensure no one is left behind on the path to UHC, Nigeria must strengthen the enablers of digital transformation, reliable electricity, affordable data, and digital literacy. Without these foundations, the promise of digital health will remain out of reach for many communities.
Global perspectives: Governance for digital health
These are not challenges unique to Nigeria. Across the world, countries are grappling with how to govern the rapid rise of digital health and how to harness its potential while protecting citizens’ rights, privacy, and trust. This is where global frameworks offer lessons that can guide national reform.
The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030, in its landmark report Growing Up in a Digital World, underscores a crucial truth: the digital transformation of health must be governed for equity, not only efficiency. The Commission argues that technology alone will not make health systems fairer or stronger; governance will.
It introduces the concept of data solidarity: the idea that health data should serve the collective good while safeguarding individual privacy. For countries like Nigeria, this means building systems that treat health data as a public resource to improve outcomes, not as a commodity that isolates or excludes. Current efforts, such as the evolving Nigeria Data Protection Act and the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative (NDHI), can be strengthened by embedding these principles of equity, transparency, and public participation.
Good governance of digital health also demands transparency, accountability, and participation. Citizens should know how their health data is used and have a voice in shaping the systems that collect it. The report calls for youth engagement in particular, recognising that today’s digital natives are not just beneficiaries but active designers of the future health ecosystem.
In Nigeria, these principles are not theoretical. The Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab), working across several African countries, has shown that young Nigerians are among the continent’s most active users of teleconsultations, health financing apps, and mobile diagnostics. They are not waiting for the system to change; they are driving the change themselves. The task for policymakers is to channel that momentum into national systems that are connected, regulated, and trusted.
Strengthening the role of the private sector
The private health sector remains Nigeria’s most accessible entry point to care. Pharmacies, PPMVs, diagnostic centres, and clinics are where millions of Nigerians seek help first. These providers are already collecting valuable health data through digital tools for TB, malaria, hypertension, and maternal health. Yet much of this data remains siloed.
If integrated responsibly into the National Health Information System, this data could transform how Nigeria allocates resources, monitors disease trends, and finances care. Linking digital data to mechanisms like the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) could also enable performance-based financing, where providers are rewarded for measurable outcomes rather than volume of services.
This integration must, however, be governed by strong frameworks that protect privacy, ensure interoperability, and incentivise accountability. The private sector’s agility and reach can make digital health truly national—if it is guided by the right policies and partnerships.
Five steps Nigeria must take:
Adopt national standards for digital and AI-enabled tools, with fast-track regulatory pathways for validated technologies.
Reform procurement policies to favour cost-effective, interoperable digital solutions.
Invest in human capacity by training health workers, pharmacists, and PPMVs to use and maintain digital tools.
Integrate device and app data into the National Health Information System for real-time surveillance and financing.
Support local innovation by scaling homegrown solutions like Nigeria’s mobile TB-screening model rather than waiting for imported ones.
Conclusion: Turning digital promise into national practice
Nigeria’s journey to UHC depends on how quickly it can turn innovation into policy. Small digital tools have already shown they can bridge distance, reduce costs, and make care more accessible. What remains is collective resolve, from government, funders, and the private sector, to scale what works and sustain it. Proven solutions like MATS should not remain pilot projects but become integral to routine healthcare delivery. The future of health in Nigeria will not be built by size or speed alone, but by smart, connected, and accountable action.
This article was developed with input from members of the HFN Editorial Committee, including Njide Ndili (President, Healthcare Federation of Nigeria), Dr Folajimi Adebowale (CEO, Recon Health Media), and Dr Funmi Adewara (CEO/Founder, Mobihealth International).
