Bay Area Global Health Alliance: Building Country-Led Ecosystems to Scale Global Health Innovation
Virtual
When: April 30, 2026; 8-9 AM PT
Where: Virtual, Register here.
Join the Bay Area Global Health Alliance for a virtual convening on April 30, 2026, from 8:00–9:00am PT on Building Country-led Ecosystems to Scale Global Health Innovation.
The old playbook for global health innovation — designed primarily in the Global North and deployed elsewhere — is giving way to something more grounded and more complex: systems shaped by countries themselves, with governments, local institutions, and private partners increasingly setting the terms.
This discussion brings together leaders from Google Research Africa and Amp Health, moderated by eHealth Africa, to examine how locally rooted innovation ecosystems are being built — and what it takes to make them last.
The conversation comes at a moment of broader reckoning. Following a year of funding strain and uncertainty, a recent Alliance synthesis of 40 global health reports pointed to a clear throughline: the sector is entering a structural transition, with country ownership, system integration, and sustainable scale moving from aspiration to requirement.
This session will explore those dynamics through real-world examples, particularly from Ghana. Google Research’s growing presence in Accra — including its AI Community Center and tools like MedGemma and the AfriMed-QA dataset — reflects a shift toward AI developed with, not just for, local contexts. At the same time, Amp Health’s Country Innovation Platform pilot with the Ghana Health Service highlights the less visible work of embedding innovation within government systems, strengthening leadership, and coordinating across stakeholders to enable scale.
The discussion will also tackle practical tensions shaping the field: how to engage governments without overreliance on public funding, how to balance country ownership with speed, and how private-sector actors can contribute to ecosystem development in ways that are both viable and aligned.