When a ransomware attack encrypts a hospital's systems, the real cost is measured in delayed treatment and interrupted care, not lost data. This Idero advisory explains why healthcare cyber risk is a patient safety problem rather than an IT compliance one, why breach prevention alone leaves patients exposed, and how Africa's interconnected trust chain of clinics, laboratories, and donor-funded platforms lets a single incident propagate across every connected facility. It sets out the care continuity architecture that keeps patients safe under attack, and closes with a 90-day roadmap leaders can act on.