Accelerating Global Health Equity at the World Economic Forum

AHIA was thrilled to participate in a World Economic Forum side-conference on Accelerating Global Health Equity in Davos, Switzerland January 2024. Some of AHIA's strategic partners, including Dr. Nhlanhla Msomi,  the Director of Innovation and Commercialization at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Executive Director of AfricaBio.the Robert Karanja Villgro (Nairobi, Kenya), and and Dheepak Mahorajh, UVU Bio (Cape Town, South Africa). 

During the 3-day conference, we along with an international group of other speakers and participants, discussed a range of topics, including: the growing role of AI in global health; the need to re-think how innovation happens in the global south, how to support the fast-growing entrepreneurial ecosystems in LMICs, and how to increase access to medications and treatments for those that most need them. 

We want to thank Mimi Choon-Quinones, of the Partners for Patients organization (www.pfp.ngo), as well as the exceptional staff and leadership from Acquis Consulting (ww.acquisconsulting.com), that organized the meeting. We look forward to working with both organizations on the many exciting initiatives that came out of the Davos conference. 

Dr. Karanja (left), Mr. Maharajh (2nd from left), & Dr. Msomi (4th from left). Dr. Schroeder (right) moderating the panel on Innovation in Africa at World Economic Forum side-conference, Davos, Jan 2024

AHIA Emory Prize Winner at BioAfrica Convention 2023

Congratulations to Simbona Healthcare R&D as the first recipient of the AHIA Emory Prize for the most promising pre-revenue startup! We are excited to

ABOUT SIMBONA:

Based in Ethiopia, Simbona Healthcare R&D focused on developing local medical devices for localized needs.

HOW WAS SIMBONA FOUNDED?

Simbona founder, Habtamu Abafoge, founded the company in 2017 in Ethiopia.

“When you visit hospitals across Ethiopia, you realize that most devices are imported from different continents which can create problems. Staff arent using the devices they have appropriately, or even worse, they dont have the devices that they need to do their jobs. This observation led me to start designing and developing tools for our Ethiopian context.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED?

When I started out, I didnt have a background in healthcare. I saw a problem and thought it would be easy to address; however, there are national and international regulations to navigate when creating a device that will interact with a baby. We had a lot to learn. We ended up creating alternative products that require less regulation that we could produce more rapidly and support the R&D of more regulated products in the process. We now have multiple products available including a UV sterilizer used to disinfect hospital equipment on the market that directly addresses a massive sanitation problem facing many lower and middle income countries.

HOW WILL YOU USE THE PRIZE MONEY?

We see the equation simply: “Any lost day of raising money means we are losing babies.” These funds will support passing of the Ethiopian FDA standards for mass productions to begin initial device manufacturing in country.

To learn more, please visit https://simbona.net/

Africa Health Excon Startup Stadium in Cairo, Egypt

AHIA Emory’s Managing Director, Dr. Dirk Schroeder, and Program Director, Ms. Bethany Larkin, joined Bio Africa’s delegation to Africa Health Excon 2023 in Cairo, Egypt in June 2023 to host the first convention’s first Startup Up Stadium. The delegation included UVU Bio (South Africa), Villgro Africa (East Africa), Lynx (Egypt), Kimi Williams, and Adrienne Leussa (BioExpert Network). The conference was attended by 43,503 attendees with over 75 companies represented.

AHIA Emory participated in the pre-convention academy, Startup Stadium, and Pitch Competition.

Training: In a pre-convention academy, Dr Dirk Schroeder hosted a seminar titled, “Conversations to Contracts”, for 30 startups.

Seminar participants and faculty celebrate the conclusion of the pre-convention academy

Dr. Schroeder shares best practices for continuing conversations after initial introductions

Startup Stadium: During the convention, startups shared their businesses with attendees in the Startup Stadium

Dr. Schroeder asks an Egyptian-based startup questions about their innovative product

Dr. Schroeder and Ms Bethany Larkin explore the convention floor at Africa Health Excon

Pitch Competition: 30 startups were selected to participate in the Startup Stadium Pitch Competition. Ms. Bethany Larkin joined 5 other leaders in entrepreneurship and bio-innovation to judge the competition. Congratulations to Laud Anthony Basing from Incas Diagnostics (Ghana) for winning the competition.

Ms. Larkin and the judging panel listen to startup pitches

Dr. Laud Anthony Bassing accepts his prize from judging chair, Robert Karanja (Villgro Africa)

Moses Ekwueme first Global Health Innovation Fellow

AHIA Emory is excited to announce our first ever Global Health Innovation Fellow! Moses Ekwueme is a public health specialist with extensive experience in nutrition, health financing, sexual and reproductive health, and research. He is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Global Health Department at Emory University in Atlanta.

He is presently focuses on designing mixed-methods research to furnish critical insights into funding pathways for health startups across the African region.