Co-hosted by the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) with funding support from the Gates Foundation

The DIA Africa Access Summit 2026 will convene leaders and stakeholders from across the healthcare ecosystem to address the interconnected challenges that determine whether medical products and health innovations ultimately reach patients across Africa. Held in Cairo, Egypt, the Summit will bring together government and regulatory leaders, the life sciences industry, healthcare providers, researchers, patients and communities, development partners, and other stakeholders shaping medical product access across the continent.

Achieving sustainable patient access requires more than the development and regulatory approval of innovative medical products and technologies. It depends on the systems that support their development, evaluation, financing, production, and delivery to patients. Across two days of scientific programming, the Summit will explore the regulatory, clinical, safety, financial, technological, and operational factors that influence access. Discussions will examine opportunities to strengthen collaboration, build sustainable systems, and translate innovation into meaningful patient access.

Through plenary discussions, interactive workshops, case studies, and cross-sector dialogue, participants will examine practical approaches to strengthening regulatory capacity, expanding clinical research and evidence generation, financing access, meaningfully engaging patients and communities, responsibly applying AI and digital technologies, translating regulatory reliance into practice, strengthening regional manufacturing and procurement, attracting investment in health innovation, protecting patients from substandard and falsified medical products, and strengthening supply resilience. These topics reflect the breadth of the developing scientific program.

The Summit will culminate in an examination of the “last-mile” access challenge, bringing together perspectives from regulators, industry, payers, health systems, and implementation experts to explore the barriers that can remain even after an innovation has been developed and approved. The discussion will consider practical approaches to adoption, reimbursement, procurement, distribution, and equitable access, with a focus on how cross-sector collaboration can help medical products and health innovations reach patients at scale.

The Cairo Call to Action will provide an interactive close to the Summit, bringing participants together to reflect on key outcomes from the two days, identify shared priorities, and define practical next steps and opportunities for continued cross-sector collaboration.

The Summit also includes an invitation-only Government Leadership Forum, providing a setting for government and regulatory leaders and invited partners to engage in strategic discussions on priorities affecting patient access to medical products and health innovation across Africa.