Africa’s Biggest Health Expo Attracts Record Attendance and the Longevity Dialogues are Launched

Record crowds, the first Longevity Dialogues, and a dedicated Longevity & Wellness sector for 2027: what happened at Africa’s biggest health expo, and what comes next.

We’re living longer than any generation before us. The question is no longer how many years we have, but how well we live them, and what a longer life means for our health, our minds, our businesses and our economy.

That question was at the heart of the Longevity Dialogues, which Longevity was proud to facilitate at Africa’s largest health expo, World Health Expo (WHX) Johannesburg, held at the Gallagher Convention Centre from 6 to 8 October 2026. Our theme was Design Your Life: Longevity for Everyone, Everyday, Everywhere.

A record year for Africa’s WHX Johannesburg

WHX is run by inD, a partnership between global events group Informa and Dubai World Trade Centre. inD is also behind the WHX event in Dubai, formerly Arab Health.

After last year’s edition in Cape Town, the show moved to Johannesburg for 2026, and the city delivered: 9,542 professional visits and more than 600 exhibitors made it the biggest edition yet.

The opening ceremony brought together health leaders from across the African continent. They included Dr Nono Simelela, Advisor to South Africa’s Minister of Health; Dr Farouk Dako of the Botswana-UPenn Partnership; Dr Lynda Decker of Ghana’s Western Private Sector Healthcare Federation; and Dr Dawit Moges of the Ethiopian Employers Federation.

In the Leadership Indabas, one message came through clearly: Africa has the expertise to innovate in healthcare, but it can’t do so in silos.

“South Africa has the expertise, laboratory networks and research capability to turn diagnostic innovation into meaningful patient access, but we cannot do it in isolation,” said Professor Wendy Stephens, CEO of the Wits Diagnostic Innovation Hub.

Prof Koleka Mlisana, CEO of the National Health Laboratory Service, said innovation must translate into “better access and stronger healthcare systems across Africa.” Dr Manuel van Deventer, CEO of Lancet Laboratories, called for connected public and private laboratory networks “that put the patient at the centre.”

Inside the Longevity Dialogues

WHX Johannesburg hosted the Longevity Dialogues, at Africa’s biggest health expo. The panel discussions were curated by Longevity – a  media platform with more than three decades of business in Africa and beyond. Across four sessions, we explored what the longevity economy can offer South Africa and the continent.

Living longer in Africa’s economy

Prof Deon Tustin, CEO of the Bureau of Market Research at Unisa, and BMR data scientist Zuzitzka Janz asked who South Africa’s longer-living citizens are, what they value and how they spend. Their valuable demographic and spatial data revealed opportunities for brands, investors and service providers. The audience at Africa’s biggest health expo were highly engaged with the presentation by Prof Deon and Zuzizka, which was highly interactive and filled with critical data to make business decisions in the field of health and wellness.

Africa’s biggest expo attracts leading thought leaders 

Three speakers drew on decades of experience in anti-aging medicine, genetics and fitness to show where the greatest opportunities lie: Dr Craige Golding, founder of the Golding Institute; Dr Daniel Meyersfeld, founder of DNAlysis Biotechnology; and Tony Payne, CEO of Technogym Southern Africa and co-founder of PentaSystems.

Longevity business trailblazers

Dr Anushka Reddy described how she turned her esthetic clinical practice into Vivari Hotel and Spa. It is an African first, combining a Department of Health-accredited day hospital with a five-star hotel. Tzvia Hermann, founder of The Laser Beautique, told how a spare-bedroom business became South Africa’s largest laser hair-removal franchise.

Building a resilient life for longevity

This panel explored how breath, neurobiology and psychological wellbeing support a longer healthspan. It brought together Dr Ela Manga, founder of Breathwork Africa; Dr Mikel H-G Hoff, founder of ANF Therapy and the ANF Academy; and Dr Hannetjie van Zyl-Edeling, a counseling psychologist and author. Longevity isn’t built in grand gestures, they agreed, but in small daily choices and the mental strength to keep making them.

What we learned

The biggest surprise was the appetite. Attendees from across the healthcare spectrum came wanting to know more about longevity, and the questions kept coming.

Three themes ran through every panel:

1. Take charge of your health. Every speaker stressed personal agency: understand your own health, then build on it step by step. They discussed an array of medical technology innovations to help those who want to take control of their health outcomes using tools for longevity.
2. No miracle cures..yet!   However, rather than promising eternal youth, experts pointed to established research on the world’s Blue Zones and on Okinawa, where people live long, healthy lives through diet, movement and community. No fake or fiction, but they stressed to rather adapt sustainable habits  that are tried and tested, scientifically sound and logical.
3. Make it local and affordable.  All panels recognized that Africa has its own unique longevity environment.  Hence, a longevity plan has to work for the country you live in, the food you can get and the budget you have. Longevity can be for everyone, every day.

2027: longevity gets its own floor

The biggest news for our community came at the close. Africa’s biggest  expo, WHX Johannesburg returns to the Gallagher Convention Centre from 2 to 4 November 2027 with two new industry sectors: Pharma, and Longevity & Wellness. The dedicated zones will bring together professionals, manufacturers, buyers and distributors working in preventive health, healthy aging and long-term wellbeing.

“Longevity is growing exponentially around the world, and while the conversation is still emerging in Africa, there is a tremendous opportunity to shape it from an Africa-first perspective,” said Gisèle Wertheim Aymés,  Managing Director and Owner of Longevity

WHX 2027 will also bring its established leadership platform, WHX Leaders Africa, to Johannesburg. This forum for senior healthcare decision-makers will focus on policy dialogue, strategy and investment.

“Across the continent, there is a need to strengthen capability, expand access and make better use of innovation, investment and collaboration,” said Tom Coleman, Portfolio Director – Healthcare at inD. “WHX creates a meeting point for those conversations.”

Watch the Dialogues

Missed the sessions? Every Longevity Dialogue was recorded live and is pinned on our Instagram page, @longevity_live.

Longevity has explored the science and art of living well since 1989. The Dialogues took that mission off the page and into the room, because a longer, healthier life begins with the conversations we have today. See you in 2027.