Since its inception in 2012, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program has been a beacon of hope for young people across Africa, providing unparalleled opportunities to pursue their dreams, uplift their families, and make lasting contributions to their communities. Today, the Mastercard Foundation is proud to build upon the Scholars Program’s legacy of transformative impact with the launch of the Africa Health Collaborative (AHEHC), a groundbreaking 10-year initiative to revolutionize primary healthcare across the continent.
Africa, home to 16 percent of the world’s population, currently faces a significant shortage of skilled health workers, with only 2.2 skilled health workers per 1,000 population – one-third of the global average.[i] By 2030, there will be a shortage of about six million skilled health workers. This, combined with the fact that the health sector in Africa contributes only about five percent to the continent’s GDP (compared to the global average of 10 percent), underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions to unlock the sector’s untapped economic potential.
“The Africa Health Collaborative seeks to leverage universities to address the critical challenges facing the health sector in Africa and in the process create work opportunities for young people,” said Peter Materu, Chief Program Officer at the Mastercard Foundation. “By strengthening primary healthcare, enhancing workforce development, and promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, we aim to create a sustainable impact on population health and unlock significant economic growth across the continent.”
The Africa Health Collaborative is anchored in the principles of partnership, emphasizing respect, inclusivity, and collaboration among all stakeholders. By co-creating solutions and embracing diverse knowledge systems, the Collaborative aims to foster a shared vision and culture of collective impact. Furthermore, the Collaborative aims to develop a dynamic, sustainable, and robust network of leading African universities, alumni, government agencies, start-ups, and not-for-profit and private sector partners to create dignified and fulfilling work across the health sector.
Dawit Wondimagegn, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University, comments, “The creation of an ecosystem where Africans connect to determine the type and organization of primary care, centring primary care in policy and action, and creating a critical mass of collaborators to showcase that young Africans could have a prospect and future as actors in the development and delivery of primary care in Africa for Africa.”
AHEHC focuses on three pillars of work to achieve its objectives:
Health Employment: Enhancing institutional capacity across Africa to train skilled workers for primary healthcare, meeting the growing demand, and contributing to the extension of systems that employ and retain this primary care workforce.
Health Entrepreneurship: Optimizing entrepreneurial ecosystems within African universities, AHEHC will support the launch and scaling of health start-ups, creating jobs and driving innovative solutions to address healthcare challenges.
Health Ecosystems: Collaborating to engage with broader health sector actors and enabling African students to acquire advanced skills across diverse disciplines crucial for sustainable and transformative growth in the health sector.
The Africa Health Collaborative recognizes that unlocking the full potential of the health sector requires addressing barriers that hinder progress, particularly in primary healthcare. These barriers include poor human resources capacity and access to health services, weak incentive structures, unaffordability of care, poor access to health services and fragmented health systems.
“Our shared vision is to work with partners to provide youth with knowledge and hands-on learning opportunities required for developing high-quality, primary health care delivery in Africa. The Health Collaborative is envisioned to be part of broader, multi-sector efforts led by Africans, for Africans. This work will help stimulate Africa’s economic growth, address access-to-care issues, and create stable, rewarding jobs in contributing to the health sector, ultimately contributing to robust societies,” said Professor Joseph Wong, Vice President, International, at the University of Toronto.
The Africa Health Collaborative envisions a transformative impact on primary healthcare across Africa through strategic interventions. This includes equipping 30,000 skilled health practitioners and community health workers to deliver innovative and high-quality primary healthcare services, fostering overall community wellness, and contributing to economic transformation.
Additionally, the Collaborative aims to nurture over 10,000 innovative and sustainable health ventures, creating a vibrant network of health entrepreneurial ecosystems. Working collaboratively with a shared vision, AHEHC seeks to build a robust network of partners, sharing best practices and lessons to create healthier and more prosperous communities.
The Mastercard Foundation and its esteemed partners in this Collaborative, including Amref International University, Addis Ababa University (AAU), African Leadership University (ALU), African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Ashesi University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Moi University, University of Cape Town (UCT), and University of Toronto (U of T), are excited to embark on this transformative journey, committed to building a healthier, more sustainable future for Africa.
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation is a registered Canadian charity and one of the largest foundations in the world. It works with visionary organizations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership.
[i] World Health Organization. 2016. Health Workforce requirement for Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals; Background paper. Geneva: WHO.
More News & Events
Skip scroller contentFrom Bedside to Big Data: A Nurse’s Transition to Health Informatics
In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, the intersection of clinical expertise and technological innovation is where the most significant impacts are made. My journey from nursing to health informatics is a testament to this shift—a journey that began with hands-on patient care and led me to the forefront of digital health solutions. This transition wasn’t […]
African Women Innovating in Health Care
This year, FemSTEM Africa engaged over 200 health innovators and enthusiasts through a series of events, concluding in a pitch competition and interactions with seasoned entrepreneurs. The five-part event series was organized by the University of Toronto’s Health Innovation Hub (H2i) in partnership with Social Enterprise (SE) Ghana, Sustineri Attorneys, supported by funding from the […]
Apply for the Mastercard Foundation Doctor of Public Health Scholarship
How to Apply: Step One Prospective applicants must first consult the admission requirements for the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program of study. The link above will guide you in exploring this program. If you meet the academic requirements of this program, please follow through to step two. Step Two Review the recording of the […]
Attaining Connected Healthcare through a National Data Platform
About the Speaker (Dr. Job Nyangena): Dr. Job Nyangena is a medical doctor and seasoned digital health professional with a distinguished career spanning over a decade. Combining a strong foundation in medicine with a deep understanding of technology, Dr. Nyangena has been instrumental in shaping the digital health landscape both in Kenya and internationally. With […]
A Model for International Partnerships: A Case Study of TAAAC
The University of Toronto and Addis Ababa University are pleased to invite you to the next episode of the Health in Africa series discussing A Model for International Partnerships.
Venture Spotlight: BetaLife Health
BetaLife Health uses artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize blood supply management across Africa. Their platform uses predictive analytics to optimize blood inventory levels, distribution logistics and donor engagement, thereby improving the timeliness and availability of blood for transfusions.
Venture Spotlight: Remedius Mobile Health
Remedius Mobile Health aims to combat the identified problems by leveraging telemedicine through the Remedius Live platform. They seek to provide fast virtual appointment scheduling with doctors and specialists at affordable rates of about five dollars and provide comprehensive care to chronically ill patients. This is executed through an integral network of facilities that provide physical care to these patients if need arises.
Venture Spotlight: Powerstove Energy
Powerstove designs and manufactures smart smoke-free cookstoves that also self-generate electricity for users to charge their mobile phones and power home appliances using proprietary renewable bio-pellets as fuel. These sustainable, mosquito repellent bio-pellets are produced from post-harvest crops and wood waste.