Connected for Change: The Global Health Network Highlights from the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) 2025

From 2 – 5 March 2025, The Global Health Network participated in the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) in Kigali, Rwanda, joining policymakers, researchers, and health leaders to redefine the future of health in Africa and challenge inequities.

The Global Health Network was represented by Dr Elizabeth Allen, Course Director for the University of Oxford’s Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health Research, and Gloria Rukomeza, Coordinator of The Global Health Network Rwanda. The Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) funded participation for sixteen AfOx scholars, including current students and alumni of the diploma programme, to enhance their learning and professional development.

At the conference, AfOx-funded scholars listened to high-level discussions on pressing African health issues, attended a leadership training workshop, and joined The Global Health Network in meeting partners and stakeholders, including representatives from LactaHub, Amref International University, and IDRC. During these engagements, scholars met with Dr Michael Makanga, Executive Director of EDCTP, who recognised the EDCTP Knowledge Hub's successful integration into the diploma curriculum – an example of The Global Health Network’s knowledge exchange impact whereby research tools on the digital platform are taken up and shared widely.

The Global Health Network team and AfOx scholars also visited AIMS, home to The Global Health Network – Rwanda. There they met Dr Jean-Claude Udahemuka, who leads the country centre and teaches on the diploma programme. Dr Udahemuka spoke to the group about his mpox research and the centre’s response to the mpox outbreak and public health emergency.

Through initiatives like these, The Global Health Network continues its mission to advance equitable health research across Africa, ensuring that every healthcare setting can generate, access and apply life-saving evidence.

For more information on the diploma programme visit: Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health Research