AeHIN Executive Director Mr. Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran delivered a lightning talk during the Global Digital Health Forum on December 3, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mr. Udayasankaran began by sharing that the funding challenges AeHIN faced motivated the network to explore ways and means of setting in place self-sustainability mechanisms and diversifying partnerships.
Noting the rapid evolution in digital and health technologies, Udayasankaran stressed that “collaboration is no longer a choice, it is a necessity.” Mr. Udayasankaran emphasized that addressing fragmented efforts, siloed systems, islands of data, and duplicate investments, all of which compromise health outcomes, is not a choice but a necessity.
At its core, AeHIN believes in the power of collaboration and co-creation. It proposes moving beyond pilots and initiatives to implementation involving the 4Cs–coordination, cooperation, collaboration, and convergence–to build resilient, equitable, and scalable digital health ecosystems. The 4Cs are connected and lead to each other; a clear process of the convergence approach.
Udayasankaran showcased AeHIN’s collaborative efforts with several partners to demonstrate how AeHIN implements the 4Cs, highlighting that co-creation and meaningful participation lead to better outcomes for everyone. Following the 4Cs leads to coherence.
Presenting figures on AeHIN’s capacity-building programs, the number of convergence workshops supported, webinars delivered, and the increase in membership, Udayasankaran mentioned that the network was able to achieve these by working together with countries and various partners, leveraging their core competencies. To conclude, he stated that “the future requires more than innovation. It demands alignment, trust, and unity. Collaboration is not optional. It is the only path to coherence, scale, and impact.”
