Nairobi: Tunisia believes African health sovereignty hinges on robust health systems, a competitive pharmaceutical industry, and effective digital transformation, as stated by Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri. She made these remarks on Tuesday during a panel discussion in Nairobi discussing resilient national health systems and local and regional production capabilities. According to Agence Tunis Afrique Presse, Prime Minister Zenzri emphasized the significance of the panel's theme, 'Health and Health Sovereignty in the African Continent.' She underscored its critical role in shaping Africa's future, particularly in light of recent global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, which unveiled the substantial challenges and structural weaknesses plaguing health systems, alongside an over-reliance on external sources, necessitating urgent reforms. Prime Minister Zenzri elaborated on Tunisia's vision for bolstering African health sovereignty through three strategic pillars: achieving pharmaceutical self- sufficiency, enhancing local healthcare services for all Africans to tackle future health challenges, and fostering international cooperation with a 'finance and health' approach. This vision advocates for boosting local medicine and vaccine production, enhancing regulatory excellence in collaboration with the African Medicines Agency, and prioritizing knowledge transfer to foster a unified Africa through a 'One Health' approach. She stressed the importance of strengthening local healthcare services to build a more equitable and resilient health system based on indigenous resources. The Prime Minister further highlighted the necessity for international cooperation grounded in a 'finance and health' approach by transforming cooperation models, establishing coordination mechanisms, and developing innovative financing tools. Prime Minister Zenzri called for partnerships rooted in equality, mutual respect, shared responsibility, and common interests as a strategic path for development. She pointed out that coll aboration in pharmaceutical and vaccine production and digital health innovation could reduce the technological gap and fortify health sovereignty in Africa while creating opportunities for balanced cooperation that leverages Africa's potential and delivers real added value in health, pharmaceuticals, and innovation. Moreover, she explained that collaboration in the health sector presents significant opportunities to bolster Africa's health sovereignty through knowledge transfer, capacity building, funding mobilization, and technology. These efforts aim to enhance health infrastructure, finance preventive programs, increase resilience in health systems, improve service quality, and build local expertise capable of driving Africa's health transformation. The Prime Minister advocated for increased investment in health infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and digital health through robust public-private partnerships, technology transfer, and pooled African procurement mechanisms. She noted that Africa po ssesses all necessary conditions for success, including qualified human resources, talented researchers, and untapped industrial potential, all of which are crucial to building its health security and ensuring a prosperous development future. Reaffirming Tunisia's commitment, she stressed the nation's dedication to joint action, strengthening African integration, and supporting initiatives for a more equitable and sustainable health future, aligning with the aspirations of African peoples for advanced health systems capable of addressing challenges and ensuring equal access to quality healthcare. Tunisia aims to serve as a regional platform for pharmaceutical production, logistics, and technology transfer to meet the needs of a rapidly growing African market. Announcing Tunisia's hosting of 'TeleHealthConnect 2026' from September 29 to October 1, 2026, Prime Minister Zenzri invited stakeholders to participate in this strategic platform, which aims to unite policymakers, experts, researchers, innovators, and international partners in developing digital health solutions, strengthening telemedicine services, and sharing successful experiences in digital health transformation. Highlighting Tunisia's progress, she mentioned the country's 'digital hospital' model, which has connected over 25 hospitals to a secure high-performance network, facilitating the transfer of medical expertise instead of patients. This initiative has resulted in a 1300% increase in remote radiology activities in 2025, over 42,000 remote examinations, and the connection of 31 healthcare institutions under telemedicine, accompanied by numerous remote medical consultations. She added that remote medical expertise in emergency medicine has enabled timely treatment of stroke cases, saving lives and reducing disability. Tunisia has embraced a strategic choice of full digital sovereignty through a secure network and locally developed artificial intelligence solutions tailored to the Tunisian context. Further, Tunisia boasts a structured pharmaceut ical industry with over forty companies collaborating with foreign entities and exporting to more than 35 countries. The nation also offers a competitive medical tourism destination due to its skilled professionals, hospital infrastructure, and strategic geographic location.