Building biomedical engineering capacity for improved health-care outcomes in Africa

African countries heavily rely on the import of medical devices and foreign expertise to install and maintain medical devices. Based on a three-year pilot project1 undertaken by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, this policy brief recommends three policy actions that can be used to mobilize universities to build biomedical engineering skills, entrepreneurial mindset and innovative capacity in order to meet the continent’s health-care needs. The recommendations are: support and promote biomedical engineering training in institutions of higher learning; inspire biomedical innovations among students and researchers through the establishment of competitions and awards; and use of public procurement contracts as a tool for technological learning and commercialization.