02/12/2026
SLAS 2026
Being at SLAS international conference and exhibition in Boston, MA, USA and seeing the future of diagnostics AI, robotics, fully integrated laboratory systems has been inspiring. But it has also been deeply unsettling.
While the future is being designed in real time, Africa is barely in the room.
This is not just a technology problem. It is a leadership problem.
When we talk about recurring Lassa fever outbreaks in Nigeria, or the persistent shortage of effective snake antivenom, these are not acts of fate. They are consequences of weak preparedness, poor prioritization of science, and failure to invest strategically in diagnostic and biomedical infrastructure.
As Africans, we cannot continue to wait for solutions to be designed elsewhere and adapted poorly to our realities. If we are not part of the design, validation, and production conversations, we will always remain dependent, vulnerable, and reactive.
I say this with a sense of burden, not blame. As an African scientist, I carry this weight personally. The cost of inaction is measured in lives, not timelines.
African leadership, political, scientific, and institutional must wake up. The future of healthcare is being built now, and absence today guarantees irrelevance tomorrow.
This year, my commitment is simple: to keep asking the hard questions, and to keep pushing for Africa to move from consumers of innovation to contributors and decision-makers.
