At CcHUB’s Design for Health (DFH) Practice, we believe that the future of healthcare innovation in Africa cannot be realized without the active leadership and participation of women. Beyond being primary users of health services, women are increasingly stepping up as solution builders—leading ventures that are transforming access, quality, and equity of care across the continent.
Our work has shown the power of investing in women-led health innovation. While 36% of startups (55 founders) in our innovation programmes are women-led, an outstanding 66% of CcHUB’s health investments have gone to female-led ventures. This intentional focus reflects our conviction that when women innovate, communities thrive.
Building Skills, Visibility, and Impact
We empower female health-tech entrepreneurs through tailored programmes such as the Female Focus Series, Masterclasses, Community Spotlights, and Innovation Challenges. These initiatives not only strengthen technical and leadership capacity but also enhance visibility for female founders, helping them scale solutions that directly address Africa’s most pressing health challenges.
Our investment readiness training and pre-seed funding have helped scale impactful ventures like LifeBank and OneHealth. The results are powerful:
- 800,000+ medical products moved with over 7,000 delivered to hard-to-reach areas.
- 206,000+ lives saved, including 145,000+ women and children through timely supply of screened blood and other critical health supplies.
- 200,000+ other positive patient outcomes achieved.
These outcomes show that with the right support, female innovators can reimagine healthcare systems and deliver life-saving impact at scale.
Driving Gender Balance in Health Innovation
Our commitment goes beyond numbers. We are actively working towards gender balance across all our programmes ensuring that female innovators, health workers, and community leaders are positioned at the forefront of Africa’s digital health revolution.
We also extend our support to maternal and child health-focused CSOs and government partners, such as Solina and Hacey Health, by helping them build capacity and design contextually appropriate, scalable solutions.
Research & Innovation for Women’s Health
Our work is rooted in human-centred design (HCD), ensuring women’s voices are not only heard but drive solution development. Some key initiatives include:
- Sexual & Reproductive Health Research (BMGF Funded): Supporting Catapult Design in testing and validating vaginal insertable products for menstrual hygiene, contraception, and STI treatment, with the aim of unlocking new pathways for women’s health innovation.
- Smile for Mothers Project (MSD Funded): Tackling postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), one of the leading causes of maternal mortality, through co-designed interventions developed with mothers, healthcare workers, and policymakers across Lagos, Kano, and Jos.
- AI & Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Maternal-Child Health: Investigating systemic barriers in Gombe, Kano, and Lagos while piloting an innovation challenge to leverage AI and DPI solutions for improved access to care for women and children.
Looking Ahead
Our journey is far from over. By continually investing in women-led health innovation, building partnerships with communities and governments, and advancing research-driven solutions, CcHUB through DFH remains committed to reshaping Africa’s healthcare landscape.
When women are empowered to lead in health innovation, entire systems shift, lives are saved, and the vision of universal health coverage moves closer to reality.
