HBI Deals+Insights / Payor and Operator Models

Hospitals in our pockets: the future of African healthcare

Before British primary care digital health player Babylon came along, the Rwandan government had never signed a contract with a private healthcare provider. A universal healthcare coverage scheme called Mutuelles de Santé had been operating in the country since 1999, but ten years later was spending 9.7% of GDP on health. The government and its citizens needed a means to make healthcare more accessible and affordable: so in 2016 it invited a private digital health platform to help connect patients to doctors.