In last week’s column, I argued that the future of aid must be local and that Africa must lead the way. That conviction is not abstract. It came into sharper focus at the Insights Learning Forum (ILF) 2025, held in Abuja on July 30th, where policymakers, innovators, investors, and civil society gathered to chart Nigeria’s health future.
“In that context, ILF’s call for integration and local investment isn’t parochial. It’s fully aligned with global shifts. And it shows Africa contributing ideas, not only receiving them.”
We didn’t only talk about digital health. We reframed investment as a combination of political will, community ownership, and trust built over time.
The conversations were bold. The commitments are even more daring. And now, the ILF 2025 Insights Report has been published. It is not simply a record of what was said but a compass for what must now be done.
Why this matters now
Globally, the aid landscape is shifting in ways we can no longer ignore. From Zimbabwe’s El Niño-driven hunger crisis colliding with U.S. aid cuts to UNICEF’s warning that $3.2 billion in global education funding could vanish by 2026, the story is the same: donor capital is tightening, just as climate shocks and conflict multiply the need.
For Nigeria, and for Africa at large, this is both a risk and an opportunity. Risk, because the fragility of external funding flows leaves millions vulnerable. Opportunity, because it compels us to accelerate what we already know is essential: domestic investment, regional alignment, and African-led systems capable of weathering global volatility.
What ILF 2025 signalled
The ILF 2025 Report surfaces three signals worth paying attention to.
First, there’s a clear shift from donor dependence toward local capital and leadership. This isn’t about rejecting international support; Nigeria and Africa will always remain connected to global partnerships. But the direction of travel is clear; true sustainability depends on domestic resources, local investors, and political ownership.
Second, the move from fragmented pilots toward integrated systems. Many innovations risk remaining siloed if not intentionally connected to national strategies and to one another. ILF participants called for interoperability of data, infrastructure, and governance so that digital health delivers value at scale.
Third, the journey from rhetoric toward actual pathways. Over the years, we have seen many important declarations. What matters now is how we collectively translate them into execution: embedding digital health into national budgets, aligning donor support with domestic priorities, and ensuring equity is not an afterthought but a design principle.
Beyond technology
At ILF 2025, I said that digital health is not an app. It is a network of people, systems, and trust. That phrase resonated because it reflects a deeper truth: technology alone does not transform health systems. Trust does.
Trust is what convinces a mother in Kano to bring her child for vaccination, knowing her data will be secure. Trust is what enables a state government to integrate a private solution into its health records. Trust is what encourages local investors to put capital into health infrastructure.
And trust grows when we invest not only in tools but also in one another.
A global conversation
These signals from Nigeria are not isolated. They tie directly into broader conversations this September. At the United Nations General Assembly, governments and partners will debate new political commitments on noncommunicable diseases and mental health. And at the Financing for Development conference, finance ministers will argue that health is not only a social good but also an economic stabiliser, one that can reduce sovereign debt risk.
In that context, ILF’s call for integration and local investment isn’t parochial. It’s fully aligned with global shifts. And it shows Africa contributing ideas, not only receiving them.
Where do we go from here?
If aid cuts are the backdrop and if climate volatility is the accelerant, then domestic leadership must be the path forward. But this cannot remain rhetoric. It means governments are embedding digital health into budget lines rather than project silos. It means local investors treating health not as charity, but as critical infrastructure. It means innovators designing for equity as much as efficiency. And it means donors working in closer alignment with country priorities, so their support strengthens, rather than bypasses, national systems.
Nigeria has an opportunity to demonstrate what this looks like in practice — moving from commitments on paper to systems that deliver at scale.
A compass, not a conclusion
The ILF 2025 Report is not an endpoint. It is a compass. For governments, investors, innovators, and communities, it points to what it will take for digital health to deliver on its promise of transformation.
We cannot afford complacency. The stakes are real and immediate, from children in Zimbabwe whose education depends on a single school meal to young Nigerians whose future health depends on whether we build systems that endure.
But we can afford to be bold. And ILF 2025 showed that boldness is not in short supply.
The bar is high, as it should be. Let’s keep raising it, together.
Ota Akhigbe is a strategic executive and director at eHealth Africa, where she focuses on scaling systems for health and digital transformation. She contributes weekly to BusinessDay, reflecting on investment, trust, and Africa’s role in shaping global health futures.
