Wits VC calls for strong B20 partnerships to grow health innovation in Africa
- Wits University
Prof. Zeblon Vilakazi joins global leaders at B20 to highlight how cross-sector partnerships can turn science into real health impact and economic resilience.
Wits University Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, joined leaders from business, universities, philanthropy, and global health organisations at a B20 South Africa 2025 Presidency session. They spoke about how partnerships can help turn science and technology into real health impact, stronger health systems and economic resilience.
The Health, Growth and Resilience – Mobilising Business for Global Health Impact session took place on 19 November as part of the B20 Global Health related sessions.
This discussion happened in the same month that South Africa hosted the 2025 G20 summit in Johannesburg on 22–23 November. It was the first time the G20 summit was hosted on the African continent. The theme was Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainable Development. Leaders discussed key issues such as economic growth, poverty, climate change, health and food security. The B20 is the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community, where business leaders advocate for policies that support economic growth and development.
During the panel discussion, the moderator asked what makes cross-cutting partnerships so powerful, and how collaboration across sectors can turn scientific and technological potential into scalable health and economic impact for Africa and the world.
Vilakazi explained that partnerships work best when they connect everyone needed to take an idea from the lab to real patient care. He said: “Partnerships are powerful because they connect the full value chain of innovation, the patient at the bedside, the clinician delivering care, the scientist driving discovery, the engineer building digital tools and the entrepreneur who helps scale them.”
He added that this approach is already showing results at Wits and Chris Hani Baragwanath. “At Wits and Chris Hani Baragwanath, we see the impact of this integration every day,” he said.
“Through our digital health platform, clinicians access real-time medical records, enabling faster and safer care. This unlocks data for research, supports AI-enabled tools and strengthens clinical governance.”
Vilakazi also pointed to the Wits BioHub as an example of how partnerships can speed up innovation and scale. “The WITS BioHub expands this further by bringing laboratories, multi-omics platforms, clinical trials, and biotech incubation into one 28,000-square-metre campus,” he said. “When business, academia, philanthropy and government co-invest, the journey from discovery to delivery becomes dramatically shorter.”
He said the goal is not only better health services, but also fairer global health innovation that includes Africa. “The result is not only improved health outcomes,” he said, “but we begin to generate African-led data and solutions that make global health innovation more representative and more equitable.”
He ended by reminding the audience what strong partnerships can deliver: “That is the promise of true partnership: shared value, shared growth and shared impact.”