ArticleBMC medical education2026
Fostering innovation and building youth capacity in global health: design, implementation, and evaluation of a youth-led digital health hackathon.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Proceedings of the Global Health Focus Youth Conference 2025: The Role of Young People in Advancing Global Health Education, Research, and Leadership.Public health challenges · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAfrican countries face significant challenges in their healthcare systems, including inadequate human resources, insufficient budgetary allocation, and poor leadership and management. Digital health solutions hold immense potential to address these challenges, but a digitally capable healthcare workforce is crucial for harnessing this potential. We designed and implemented Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations (FAMSA) AfroHack ‘24, a four-day virtual hackathon, to empower African medical students to develop and implement innovative digital health solutions for critical public health issues.
methodsThis four-day virtual hackathon brought together medical students from across Africa. Participants received training in design thinking, innovation in the African context, and effective pitching. They then collaborated in teams to develop digital health solutions addressing key themes like HIV/AIDS prevention, non-communicable diseases, and infectious disease outbreaks. Pre- and post-hackathon surveys were conducted to assess changes in participants’ skills and confidence. Narratives from the open-call proposals were analyzed to identify emergent themes.
resultsThe hackathon attracted applications from 21 teams across six African countries. Five teams were selected. The mean age was 23.88 years (SD: 2.60), 70.6% were male, and 53% were from Nigeria. The proposed solutions leveraged technologies like mobile health applications, AI/machine learning, and wearable devices. Participants self-reported improvements in teamwork (70.6%), pitching (41.2%), and design thinking (23.5%) skills. Common challenges included team coordination (23.5%), internet connectivity issues (17.6%), and time constraints (17.6%).
conclusionThe AfroHack ‘24 hackathon was a valuable platform to foster innovative ideas to address global health disparities in African countries, build digital health innovation capacity, and establish collaborative relationships with experienced global health professionals. Future innovation events may build on these strategies to empower healthcare trainees.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.