EKASINOMICS - Unu Health | Healthcare Tech Platform

Loading player...
GUEST – Tania Joffe, CEO and Principal of Unu Health

South Africa’s health care remains a two-tiered space, where access to private healthcare, which accounts for 50% of our total expenditure on health, and which supports 17% of our population, remains linked to the ability to pay for private medical scheme membership.

Despite remarkable innovation and progress globally in the health tech domain, which seeks to remove friction and improve access, South Africa’s population with access to private healthcare has moved from 9.6% in 1974 (2.4m members/ population of 25m) to 17% in 2021 (9m member/ population of 59.3m). Aiming to urgently step into the gap, Unu Health is a technology platform that delivers access to affordable, quality primary healthcare.The platform gives users access to primary healthcare providers including nurses, doctors, and pharmacy networks via a zero-rated mobile app, and seeks to empower users to own their wellbeing, key to addressing non-communicable diseases, which by 2030 will be the number one driver of mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa.
28 Feb 2023 5PM English South Africa Business News · Investing

Other recent episodes

SA Payments Behind the Fifa Passion

Visa’s data reveals how FIFA World Cup 2026™ shifted SA spending — from a 72% surge in sports recreation to 76% spikes in live screening ahead of Bafana’s Round of 32 match. Zeyad Davids, Vice President, Head of Marketing Services, Central Europe, Middle East & Africa at Visa explains how…
30 Jul 1PM 11 min

Life vs Funeral: The Real Difference

South Africa’s insurance gap has widened to R50.4 trillion. Capitec Life CEO Deepesh Desai explains why funeral cover dominates, why life cover lags at 19%, and how Capitec wants to change the national conversation.
30 Jul 1PM 11 min

Brand SA data shows South Africa’s Reputation Turning a Corner

South Africa scores 3.70 among audiences who know it best — placing the nation second in the world and above the Love Mark threshold. Brand SA’s Olebogeng Mabala unpacks the 0.87‑point gap between familiar and unfamiliar audiences, the economic stakes of reputation, and why “South Africa converts” once people experience…
30 Jul 12PM 19 min

PIC At War With Itself: Governance and the health of Pensions

The Public Investment Corporation—custodian of more than R3 trillion in public money and the retirement savings of millions of South Africans—is once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A whistleblower complaint, the controversial Lanseria Airport deal, the precautionary suspension of CEO Patrick Dlamini, board resignations and FSCA…
29 Jul 2PM 10 min

Africa’s Delivery Generation: Youth Demand Jobs & Clean Government

The African Youth Survey 2026 reveals a rising generation more optimistic than at any time since the pandemic — but demanding delivery, accountability and economic dignity. Commissioner Ivor Ichikowitz unpacks why optimism has surged, why cost‑of‑living pressures dominate youth concerns, and why young Africans support democracy but reject Western models…
29 Jul 1PM 12 min