The 11th Annual Africa Health Congress, organized by Informa Markets, commenced in Johannesburg yesterday, drawing thousands of attendees from all around Africa and the world.
Thought leaders from a vast array of sub-disciplines within the medical and healthcare fields shared thoughtful and informative addresses on a variety of the most pressing topics facing healthcare today.
This is the second in-person Congress since the pandemic caused all events to be held virtually, and is again hosted at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.
“We’ve taken learnings from the pandemic years and incorporated digital elements into our offerings, enhancing ease of registration and participation. That said, gatherings are an important part of all African culture, and this year we’ve truly seen the immense value of an inclusive space that brings the members of the continent’s healthcare world together for truly meaningful, deeply personal engagement,” said Dr Bandile Hadebe, spokesperson for the organizing team.
The opening ceremony on day one was addressed by the Chairperson of the SA Medical Association, Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa. In his opening remarks, he referred to the need for quality and accessible healthcare for all and the need to invest in human capital as part of the process to ensure everyone has access to quality healthcare – key tenets of the Congress.
Visitors perused the offerings of some 500 trade and industry partner exhibitions, around 150 of which at the co-located MedLabs Medical Laboratory Conference event, the largest of its kind on the continent. Over 10,000 delegates, representing some 55 countries began pouring in, eager to network and participate in the highly anticipated CPD-accredited 2023 Conference Tracks – the true meat and bones of Africa Health Congress.
Day One saw several profound sessions at the Public Health, Medical Obstetrics, and Nursing conferences, as well as the first of the two-day Imaging & Diagnostics track. The MedLab event kicked off with the Laboratory Management Conference, which provided attendees with a valuable, high-level overview of some of the most urgent issues that Africa’s medical laboratories are currently grappling with.
A spokesperson for Allegers, Abhishek Mittal, explained what the significance of attending an event such as Africa Health held for his company. “Africa is a large portion of the Allegers’ market so it is critical to engage in monumental health conferences in Africa such as Africa Health.”
The CEO of PMB Health and Safety Services Bruce Manuel said they are attending in order to identify channel partners to export into Africa. “We’re here for grand exposure. It’s been 3 years of building and now we’re announcing ourselves to the market, it’s our first Africa Health conference. It’s been a great experience.”
Another highlight from Day One was the commencement of The Transformation Zone, which was introduced last year, proving an indispensable platform for exploring transformative ideas and system-wide innovations that intersect all the areas of modern medicine and healthcare.
Join us again tomorrow for Day Two (on Wednesday), featuring the Emergency Medicine, and Bioclinical & Medical Engineering tracks, as well as the hotly anticipated inaugural edition of Africa Health Indaba.
