Theme and sub-themes of the 2025 Scientific Conference:
The broad theme of the 2025 conference is: Resilient and Strong African Health Systems: Contributions of Health Economics and Health Policy.
The sub-themes of the conference are:
Strengthening Primary Health Care (PHC) for Universal Health Coverage (UHC):
PHC as a driver to improving access to services; Evaluating PHC performance; Financing PHC services; and Quality improvement in healthcare delivery.
Health Financing and Economic Sustainability:
Innovative financing models for healthcare in Africa; Public-private partnerships in healthcare funding; and Economic implications of health system resilience.
Healthcare Access and Equity:
Addressing disparities in healthcare access; Strategies for improving healthcare equity; and Tackling social determinants of health, such as poverty, education, gender inequality, and environmental factors, improving education and employment opportunities and ensuring access to clean water and sanitation.
Community Engagement and Empowerment:
Community-based health interventions; Strengthening community health systems; The impact of community engagement on health outcomes; and Building community resilience.
Health Infrastructure and Workforce:
Investing in healthcare infrastructure, including hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and medical supply chains, is crucial for providing quality healthcare services. Additionally, addressing healthcare workforce shortages, improving training and retention, and supporting community health workers can enhance healthcare delivery.
Health Information Systems and Digital Health Technologies:
Strengthening health information systems and data collection mechanisms is necessary for evidence-based decision-making. Relatedly, digital technologies play a role in improving the timely availability of quality data. Of importance is the collection and use of quality data for monitoring progress, decision making and effective targeting of interventions. Assessing Telehealth and its economic implications; Digital health tools for cost-effective healthcare; and Technological advancements for efficient health data management provide valuable lessons for improving service delivery and monitoring.
Public Health Emergency Preparedness:
Pandemic response and preparedness; Economic implications of health emergencies; and Building resilient health systems as a means to ensuring health security.
Health Outcomes and Performance Measurement:
Metrics for assessing health system performance; and Economic evaluation of health interventions.
Strengthening Health Systems Governance:
Policy reforms to enhance health system resilience; Governance and regulatory frameworks in health; Collaborative efforts among African countries for health system improvement; Regional health policies and their impact; and Lessons learned from successful regional health initiatives.
Health Economics, Public Health and Health Policy researchers in particular are encouraged to submit abstracts on this broad theme and its sub-themes or indeed on any other interesting, innovative, or topical African health sector or systems research which upon selection by our scientific committee may be presented orally or in poster format at the conference.
