Stakeholders at the 2025 Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN) Annual Conference held in collaboration with the World Health Expo Lagos have called for the expansion of public-private integrations to support and scale primary healthcare delivery, especially through initiatives like the Adopt A Health Facility Programme (ADHFP).

The theme of the conference was ‘The Creative Catalyst: Driving Sustainable Healthcare Solutions in West Africa.’

The participants also recommended the mainstreaming of storytelling and creative engagement in public health communication strategies to increase awareness, trust, and behavioural change, just as it called for the strengthening of healthcare workforce capacity through digital health tools, AI-assisted diagnostics, and community health worker training models.

They also talked about mobilising private sector investment in healthcare by demonstrating impact potential and return through health-focused creative campaigns aside encouraging legislative support and budgetary allocations for innovations in health technology, maternal health, and youth engagement.

In her opening remarks, the MD/CEO of Aliko Dangote Foundation and Chair of the Conference, Mrs. Zouera Youssoufou, underscored the critical role of private sector collaboration in driving systemic health reforms.

She highlighted the impact of PSHAN’s Adopt-A-Healthcare Facility Programme (ADHFP), which aims to transform one primary healthcare facility in every local government across Nigeria into a model centre of care.

In her welcome address, the MD/CEO of PSHAN, Dr Tinuola Akinbolagbe, said the meeting was not just another conference, but a movement that dares to explore unconventional paths, challenge norms, and build bridges between unlikely sectors; all in service of transforming healthcare in Nigeria and across West Africa.

She said the theme invites stakeholders to reimagine what is possible when creativity meets purpose.

“In the face of daunting healthcare challenges — from infrastructure gaps to underfunding — we have chosen to look to an unlikely ally: The creative industry. An industry that has proven its resilience, scaled against the odds, attracted global attention, and inspired millions.”

Akinbolagbe maintained that the conference was a call to action, especially the private sector.

“A call to innovators to think differently about healthcare investments, drawing lessons from storytelling, branding, media and entertainment, and pop culture. And a call to all of us to see healthcare not only as a system to be fixed, but as a story to be retold — with people at the centre.

“At PSHAN, we believe the private sector holds the key to unlocking bold, sustainable change in our health system. But that change demands creativity, courage, and cross sector synergy. That is what today is about,” Akinbolagbe said.

The keynote speaker, the Founder/CEO of Sand Technologies, Mr. Fred Swaniker, who spoke on ‘Reimagining African Healthcare in the Age of AI’, highlighted Africa’s alarming doctor-to-patient ratio.

He provided graphic and pictorial details of how deployment of technology and AI could help not just health delivery but also planning and decision making.

Swaniker showcased innovations such as AI-assisted diagnostics, portable MRI devices, and real-time data systems like the National Health Intelligence Centre, stating that technology, while critical, must be paired with storytelling and cultural relevance to drive adoption and trust.