Welcome to the 6th Annual Early-Career Health Researchers’ Symposium, 2022! This very impactful event provides an opportunity for early career scientists to showcase their work, to interact with their peers, and to learn from those that have been fortunate enough to do the work before them.  

Over the years, we have seen tremendous growth in the number of abstracts submitted and the quality of the entries presented at the symposium. We are also grateful to note that participants have come from a diversity of institutions across the world. As the symposium grows in stature, we are committed to maintaining the high quality that has come to be associated with our events, and continuing to provide a platform for growing conversations in health research in this region and beyond. 

This year’s theme, “Strengthening health care systems through Innovation, technology and evidence-based practice,” is in line with AKU’s vision to become a global research university through engaging in clinical practice, teaching, and enhancing our research programmes across our campuses.  

As the world is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take cognizance of the fact that the prevalence of non-communicable diseases is still on the rise, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. According to the WHO, Africa accounts for approximately 24% of the global disease burden but only contributes to 3% of the global medicine production and imports approximately 95% of its medical product needs. In addition, we still find ourselves in a period where we are not out of the woods yet with regard to emerging pandemics.  

This calls for healthcare stakeholders in both the public and the private sectors to be at the forefront in championing innovative solutions and new technological advancements in our healthcare systems. Notably, today’s policy-makers in the healthcare sector need to have a clear understanding of both the innovation processes that lead to new technological advancement, and ways in which these technologies can be disseminated through functional healthcare systems. By providing an enabling environment for innovations for our healthcare providers, we aim to accelerate innovations that are key in combating future healthcare challenges and pandemics.  

It is therefore imperative for all of us in the healthcare sector to think keenly about the importance of medical technologies and innovations in our practice. We must remember that medical technology and innovations are a vital cog in our national health strategies for advancing our healthcare systems which will take us closer to the achievement of Universal Health Coverage and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Investment in medical technology and innovation will enable significant advancement in patient care and provide practical solutions towards improving service delivery in our healthcare systems for the benefit of the communities that we serve. We cannot succumb to the pessimism that holds that people in this region cannot benefit from technological advances in healthcare because of being “resource-limited”, an ideology I have christened “poor medicine for poor people”, and which results in worsening health inequities in a global unending vicious cycle. 

Our people deserve high quality evidence-based and accessible care, and the health system exists to serve this need. We must innovate, we must conduct impactful research, we must confront the physical, social, and psychological barriers that hold us back from achieving the highest attainable standard of health for all our people, as commanded by our own Constitution. 

With those few remarks, I take this opportunity to welcome all of you to this year’s Symposium, and I hope you remember it as playing a pivotal role in your career journeys.