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When I first compiled the list of every African country\u2019s national eHealth strategy or digital health policy<\/a> back in 2020, the dominant instrument across the continent was a five-year national eHealth strategy.<\/p>\n They were written to a WHO Global Observatory<\/a> template, often expired, frequently undiscoverable, and almost never legally binding. Six years on, that picture has changed enough that the original list is misleading more than it is helpful.<\/p>\n Sign Up Now<\/a> for more African digital health insights<\/p>\n The headline shift since 2019 is the kind of strategy in each country. The WHO-templated eHealth document of the 2010s is being replaced by something bigger, more integrated with national digital transformation agendas, and increasingly statutory rather than purely strategic.<\/p>\n Below is the updated table of operative national digital health instruments for all 54 African Union member states, current as of July 2026. Where I can link to a primary source on a ministry, regulator, or WHO portal, I do. Where I cannot, the entry is marked [SOURCE NEEDED]<\/b> and I am asking you to send me the document.<\/p>\n National Digital Health Policies<\/p>\n 11 Countries Missing Primary Text<\/p>\n Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau (the digital transformation strategy specifically), Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal all share the same failure mode.<\/p>\n A strategy is documented in secondary reporting (national press, donor coverage, WHO\/UNDP project pages) but no primary government-hosted PDF was locatable in May 2026. Benin is the same plus the additional complication that no successor exists. Sudan and Eritrea carry primary sources for the integrated HSSP but no standalone digital strategy.<\/p>\n If you have a working link to any of these primary documents, please email me<\/a> so I can update the list and credit you in the next revision.<\/p>\n What Changed Since 2020<\/p>\n The 2020 list reflected the WHO Global Observatory survey universe, where the question was whether a country had a \u201cnational eHealth strategy\u201d filed against a templated definition.<\/p>\n Most of the entries were five-year strategies, often expired by the time I compiled them, with primary text on Google Drive because the ministries had not posted them. The 2026 picture is different in three concrete ways.<\/p>\n 1. Dominant instrument has migrated.<\/p>\n The five-year eHealth strategy is being replaced by either a longer-horizon digital health strategy of seven to ten years, an integrated PNDS or NHSSP that absorbs digital priorities, or, in Kenya\u2019s case, primary legislation.<\/p>\n At least sixteen of the operative instruments in this table are dated 2024 or later. The instruments adopted across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal between 2023 and 2025 share architectural DNA with each other (interoperability layer, EHR, telemedicine, governance pillar, costed implementation) more than any of them visibly share with the Africa CDC Digital Transformation Strategy 2023-2030<\/a>.<\/p>\n The continental coordinating frame exists. The policy evidence does not yet support claims that it is materially driving national alignment, even as Africa CDC moves toward a Continental Health Data Governance Framework<\/a> and the bilateral US health MOUs reshape what national digital sovereignty means in practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2. The lusophone laggards have closed the gap.<\/p>\n In 2020 I had Angola at a 2010 strategy and Mozambique at a 2009-2014 one. Today Mozambique has its first dedicated 10-year digital health strategy, Angola is finalizing an HIS Strategic Plan with WHO and EU support, and Cabo Verde and S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 are mid-process.<\/p>\n 3. Post-coup governments adopted new policies.<\/p>\n Burkina Faso\u2019s PSSN 2025-2029 was signed in January 2025. Mali\u2019s PSNSN 2024-2028 was developed with WHO, UNDP, World Bank, USAID, and UNICEF support. Niger validated its Sch\u00e9ma Directeur in May 2025 despite the post-coup environment. Health digitization apparently sits below the political fault line. That is a finding worth absorbing before assuming political instability automatically means digital health stagnation.<\/p>\n Key Weakness: Adoption Without Execution<\/p>\n The gap between adoption and execution is wider than the table can show.<\/p>\n Several of the post-2023 strategies were drafted with donor consultancy money under WHO or World Bank cover, validated at a workshop, and then never surfaced as a downloadable PDF on the ministry website that nominally owns them. The Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal entries all carry [SOURCE NEEDED]<\/strong> tags for exactly that reason.<\/p>\n A national digital health strategy that exists only in the consultant\u2019s deliverable and the launch press release is a different artefact than one whose legal text and budget annexes the ministry treats as governing.<\/p>\n Cameroon evaluated its 2020-2024 plan in 2025 before replacing it and scored system maturity at 1.8 out of 5. That is what honest evaluation looks like. The same exercise applied across the continent would, on the available evidence, produce a similar verdict in most countries.<\/p>\n\n
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