On the 30th of October, Make-IT in Africa, Merck and Nest hosted the 8th edition of the #WhatsGood series at Mettā Nairobi. The central question of the evening was: How is data accelerating progress in health care? Four experts with different professional backgrounds in the field of health care and DataScience discussed together with over 60 participants the impact of data on health care systems in Africa.

This event brought together three important organizations, which support the ecosystem and its entrepreneurs in different African countries. Merck, one of the largest German pharmaceutical and chemical companies, offers a joint accelerator program with Make-IT in Africa to support young companies, who want to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages through innovation. Merck and Make-IT in Africa conducted this event to inform young entrepreneurs about the potential of data for healthcare solutions. To find out more about the program, click here. In addition, Nest co-hosted the event as one of the leading corporate innovation accelerators in Africa.

The speakers mentioned that health information systems are maturing and are providing countries with data to monitor, assess and improve their health systems and services. As a result, national healthcare systems are using data to better allocate resources, improve health care services, and extend those services to more citizens.