Bloom Public Health at the Future of Health Conference 2026

On 29 October, members of the Bloom Public Health team joined health leaders, innovators, policymakers and partners in Abuja for the Future of Health Conference 2026, convened by Nigeria Health Watch.

In attendance were Prof. Chimezie Anyakora, our CEO; Nneka Egbonu, Regional Communications Manager; Mary Chude, Executive Assistant to the CEO; Mmesoma Ibegbu, Program Associate; and Elizabeth Aransiola, Communication Associate.

The conference first took place in 2015, and this year’s theme was “From Innovation to Impact: The Future of Health Is Now.” It brought together innovators, policymakers, investors and development partners to build the kind of partnerships that help effective health solutions reach more people.

The Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority of Nigeria, Dr Kelechi Ohiri, made a point that stayed with us. Expanding health insurance is not enough on its own. It has to come with quality care, so that patients can get medicines, emergency care, and financial protection when they reach a facility. He also said that innovation should start from real problems, and that health workers need skills beyond clinical care.

In a session led by CEPI on Lassa fever, speakers argued that West Africa should help set research priorities and lead trials, not simply host research sites. Community engagement has to sit at the centre of that work. Dr Chidubem Ogwulu said findings from the ENABLE studies should be turned into national Lassa fever strategies, so that preparedness becomes readiness.

Dr Erasmus Morah of Africa CDC reminded the room that evidence rarely scales without political will. Science gives us the solutions, and politics gives us the policies and commitment to put them to work. The answer is not to choose one. It is to make them work together.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of the World Health Organization Health Emergencies Programme, added that knowing something is wrong is not the same as acting to change it. What matters is what we do with what we know.

Folake Owodunni of Emergency Response Africa put it in simple terms: every innovation needs a doer and a payer. Throughout the day, the gap was rarely a lack of ideas. It was turning evidence into policy, financing, and action, and the question in the room stayed the same: how do we move from innovation to real impact for Nigerians?

These messages match our work at Bloom Public Health. We are committed to strengthening quality medicines, laboratories and supply chains across Africa, so that innovation turns into impact for the people who need it most.

Day two: the conversation on local API manufacturing

On 30 October, our CEO, Professor Chimezie Anyakora, joined a panel at the Nigeria Health Watch stakeholder workshop, a special session of the conference held with the World Bank Group and IFC.

The panel looked at what is still holding back local manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in Nigeria, from production costs and financing to infrastructure and policy gaps. The barriers are real, but so is the opportunity. Nigeria can’t keep growing its pharmaceutical industry while depending on imports for the ingredients that go into our medicines.

Nigeria’s medicines deserve a stronger foundation, and Bloom Public Health is committed to helping build it.

Thank you to Nigeria Health Watch and the organisers for a thoughtful convening