Africa spends approximately $145 billion a year on healthcare, but incomplete health records and weak statistical systems can undermine decisions about where resources are needed most, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Speaking at the opening of the First Africa Health Data Forum in Nairobi on 10 November 2026, ECA officials called for health information systems to be treated as essential public infrastructure rather than temporary, donor-funded projects.
In its official statement, the commission warned that gaps in birth registration, mortality statistics and population records affect healthcare planning, financing and service delivery.
When people are missing from the data
Governments need reliable information to determine how many health workers to train, where to build facilities and how much to allocate for medicines and vaccines. When population data are incomplete, even well-intentioned budgets may fail to reflect actual needs.
ECA Chief of Staff Aboubakri Diaw, representing Executive Secretary Claver Gatete, illustrated the issue through the fictional example of a newborn whose birth is formally registered and can therefore be included in public planning.
The example highlighted a broader problem: people missing from official records can also be overlooked when authorities estimate demand for essential services.
Health information systems include civil registration, disease surveillance, patient information, service statistics and the administrative data used to plan and evaluate care. These functions are connected but not identical, and strengthening them requires coordination across health ministries, statistical agencies and civil registration authorities.
The financing problem behind the data problem
According to ECA, fewer than one in five African countries finances its health information systems through domestic budgets. The commission raised concerns about the sustainability of systems dependent on external funding, especially as international health financing comes under pressure.
Building a digital platform may attract one-time investment, but maintaining reliable data requires recurring expenditure on staff, connectivity, equipment, security, training and quality assurance.
Systems can become fragmented when individual projects collect information using incompatible formats or when donor support ends before governments can take over operating costs.
The commission’s call is therefore about long-term public financing as much as technology. A sustainable approach would integrate health information systems into ordinary government planning and budgeting.
Digital infrastructure and interoperability
Digital tools can make it easier to record births, report disease outbreaks, monitor medicine supplies and compare service delivery across locations. Their value, however, depends on whether information is accurate, appropriately protected and usable by authorised institutions.
Interoperability is particularly important. Health facilities, civil registries and statistical offices may collect related information, but disconnected systems can create duplication and leave decision-makers with conflicting figures.
Better coordination can support more reliable estimates of population needs and help officials identify underserved communities. It also raises questions about data governance, privacy, cybersecurity and the safeguards required when sensitive personal information is processed.
Digitalisation alone will not solve gaps caused by inadequate staffing, unreliable electricity or weak reporting practices. Successful reform requires institutional responsibility and investment in people as well as software.
Connecting data to public finance
ECA said it is working to integrate health information systems, civil registration and statistics into finance–health compacts with African countries, building on the Tangier Declaration on Sustainable Health Financing.
The objective is to make health data part of national economic planning. Reliable information can help governments assess whether spending reaches intended populations and whether services produce measurable improvements.
That connection is particularly important when public budgets are constrained. Better evidence cannot eliminate resource shortages, but it can make allocation decisions more transparent and provide a basis for evaluating results.
What the Nairobi forum may deliver
The First Africa Health Data Forum runs from 10 to 12 November under the theme “Better Data, Better Health for All.” It brings together governments, the World Health Organization, regional institutions and development partners.
Participants are expected to develop a Nairobi Agenda on Health Information Systems. As of the opening announcement, that agenda was an anticipated outcome, not an adopted agreement.
ECA has said it will help advance the forum’s conclusions through its Conference of Ministers of Finance, the Statistical Commission for Africa and civil registration institutions.
For governments, the central question is whether health information will be funded and managed as a permanent public function. The commission’s message is that stronger health systems depend not only on additional spending, but also on knowing accurately whom that spending is meant to serve.
Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 10 November 2026.
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