Digital Health as a driver of UHC progress

Digitalisation and the use of digital tools have become an inherent component of health systems and health service delivery. They serve as a key enabler and accelerator to move us closer - and faster - towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC). However, the digitalisation of health and development and deployment of digital tools must prioritise public health values, equity and human rights to ensure no one is left behind.

The Opportunity

If implemented in an equitable, sustainable and inclusive manner,
digital health has the potential to:

Close equity gaps by extending the reach and coverage of health services to underserved and marginalised populations, including reducing direct and indirect costs associated with accessing services.

Strengthen primary health care by improving the delivery, quality and efficiency of care and enabling more effective system integration, including continuity of care between service levels.

Improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness by streamlining health systems, reducing redundancies, facilitating better care coordination, and improving budget management, which can reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes.

Foster more inclusive health governance by increasing opportunities for civil society and communities to participate in policy making, facility-level processes and governance. It can also increase the availability and transparency of data and decision making, enabling improved monitoring and accountability.

Maximise health outcomes and public benefits of health data by enabling better health surveillance, data collection, and analysis.

Key challenges and barriers

To fully harness the opportunity of digital health to deliver health for all in the digital age, key barriers must be overcome.

Poor or expensive connectivity

Limited digital health knowledge and skills amongst the health workforce

Lack of inclusive approaches to meaningfully engage communities and health workers

Mistrust of digital technologies

Unclear funding landscape and insufficient allocation of resources

Low digital health literacy

Weak legislative, regulatory and policy environment

Inadequate digital public infrastructure

Low political will and leadership

What we're calling for

Improve investment, ensuring it is coordinated, aligned with national priorities, and designed for equity and sustainability.

Strengthen foundational areas for the digital health transformation, including digital public infrastructure, connectivity, literacy and the enabling environment.

Establish the foundations and guardrails for a gender transformative digital health ecosystem.

Equip a digitally-enabled health workforce, particularly at primary and community levels.

Ensure meaningful engagement of civil society and communities – particularly youth, women and marginalised communities – in the digital transformation.

Strengthen national legislation and regulation governing the collection and use of health data and AI.

What we're doing

Making the case and galvanising action for digital health as a driver of UHC

Strengthening the case, including through our report, The Case For Digital Health: Accelerating Progress To Achieve UHC, which lays out the digital dimensions of UHC and needed actions.
Driving alignment, action and accountability through our Roadmap to 2030 initiative – A shared global effort to ensure digital transformation helps us achieve UHC by 2030.
Engaging in key meetings (e.g. World Health Assembly, UNGA, UHC high-level meeting, G20, etc), processes and mechanisms (e.g. UHC2030, the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism, Global Digital Health Strategy, Global Digital Compact, Global Initiative on Digital Health among others) to ensure digital health is prioritised as part of UHC, to build political will and action, and to further our calls and work.

Supporting national efforts to strengthen the enabling environment

Working in priority countries and supporting governments to:

Develop and implement national digital health policies, strategies, roadmaps, and Acts
Establish national digital health mechanisms (agencies, committees, TWG) to coordinate, implement and oversee national policies, strategies, roadmaps, and Acts
Develop, roll out, and scale up national digital health curriculums/modules
Ensure youth, women and marginalised communities are included in national planning, implementation and governance of digital health transformation strategies
Increase budget allocation and track and prioritise resources for digital health

Mobilising action from diverse stakeholders on a Roadmap to 2030: Health for all in the digital age

Transform Health and our partners are leading the ‘Roadmap to 2030: Health For All in the Digital Age’.
The Roadmap is a five-year, multi-stakeholder plan to accelerate digital transformation of health systems and progress universal health coverage by 2030.
Designed to strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable, equitable digital health, it aligns global and national efforts toward achieving UHC by 2030 and provides clear goals, ambitions and milestones for 2026 to 2030.

JOIN THE INITIATIVE

Supporting digital transformation of community health for universal health coverage

Working with partners to learn from best practice and to encourage governments to develop policy and legislative frameworks that will enable the digital transformation of community health to accelerate UHC.
Building the case for greater government leadership and engagement, and for the development of a policy framework that will enable the integration of information management systems, empower local health actors, and to reduce demands on the primary healthcare system.

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