More than 8,500 professional visits were recorded at the 2026 World Health Expo (WHX) Nairobi, which brought together healthcare buyers, distributors and decision-makers from across Africa and beyond.
The 10th edition of the three-day expo, held from September 16 to 18 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), featured more than 250 international companies from 30 countries.
The event was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Health, with support from the Kenya Healthcare Federation.
It showcased medical devices, laboratory equipment, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, diagnostics, imaging, hospital information technology, orthopaedics, digital health and preventive healthcare.
The expo was officially opened by Dr Joe Lenai, Director of Primary Healthcare, Preventive and Promotive Health at the Ministry of Health, alongside Indonesian Ambassador to Kenya Witjaksono Adji and Tom Coleman, Portfolio Director for Healthcare at inD, the organiser of WHX.
Also present were Mary Muriuki, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards; Dr Mazyanga Lucy Liwewe Mazaba, Regional Director of the Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre of the Africa CDC; and Alex Oketch, General Manager for East Africa at GE.
Dr Lenai urged medical equipment manufacturers and suppliers to provide long-term maintenance and technical support instead of focusing solely on equipment sales.
“Africa must no longer be an equipment graveyard. For too long, expensive medical equipment has gone out of use due to unavailable spare parts, inadequate maintenance and insufficient technical skills,” Dr Lenai said.
He called on manufacturers, aggregators and vendors to provide comprehensive service-level agreements covering equipment maintenance, spare parts and development of local technical capacity.
Dr Lenai also highlighted ongoing healthcare reforms, including the Primary Care Act, Social Health Insurance Act, Digital Health Act and Facility Improvement Financing Act.
He said the reforms were aimed at supporting a more sustainable and people-centred healthcare system while creating opportunities for local manufacturing, investment, innovation and partnerships.
Mr Coleman said the expo had provided opportunities for investment, knowledge exchange and partnerships in the region.
He said the event also highlighted growing interest in digital health technologies to strengthen healthcare infrastructure, improve access to medicines and support patients in urban and underserved rural areas.
Indonesian Ambassador Witjaksono Adji said the participation of Indonesian companies offered an opportunity to deepen healthcare cooperation between Kenya and Indonesia.
“Events such as WHX provide an opportunity to strengthen partnerships, exchange expertise and explore possibilities for greater investment and cooperation between our two countries,” Mr Adji said.
Official delegations from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and other East African markets also attended the expo, where discussions focused on procurement and regional healthcare supply chains.
Kenya Healthcare Federation chief executive Dr Anne Musuva said the expo demonstrated the region’s capacity to develop healthcare solutions that can be deployed at scale.
“Kenya has the ingredients to become a regional digital-health leader: an active private sector, a statutory digital-health architecture, strong technical talent, experienced public-health institutions and a tradition of public-private collaboration,” Dr Musuva said.
She said the expo highlighted the potential to move from fragmented digital health projects towards interoperable systems that can operate securely at scale and serve underserved populations.
FedEx, the official WHX Platinum Partner and Networking Lounge Partner, facilitated engagements between exhibitors and potential buyers during the event.
Leon Bruwer, Managing Director, Sales, Sub-Saharan Africa at FedEx, said efficient supply chains would be important to Kenya’s efforts to strengthen local manufacturing of medicines and medical devices.
The WHX portfolio includes healthcare exhibitions in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg, connecting international manufacturers with distributors and buyers across African markets.
The next WHX Nairobi is scheduled for September 15 to 17, 2027, at the KICC in Nairobi.
