Key Drivers of Digital Health

Transformation
Les Ong
Programme Specialist
Health & Development Team
UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub

December 2021
 Context

Source: Prescient & Strategic Intelligence (2020)

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Improving health systems

Source: WHO (2019)

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

SMILE

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Barriers to successful digital health transformation

• Highly fragmented & complex digital ecosystem

• Poor management & unsustainable business models

• Weak digital capacity & resistance to digital disruption

• Infrastructure and financing limitations

• Poor access to technology

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

 Digital Health Transformation

Enabling digital ecosystem Demand-side factors

Digital
Leadership & Legal, policy & Digital infra- & Local Digital People-
capacity &
governance regulatory info-structure innovation inclusion centredness
literacy

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

 Strengthening leadership & governance for
digital health
Stewardship of the national digital health
agenda Define national vision and plan

Promote engagement and Align ICT and health goals

National partnerships between ICT and health
multisectoral
coordinating National Define standards, policies and
platform Drive meaningful engagement and Digital regulations
inclusivity Health
Strategy Promote local digital innovation
ecosystem
Implement coherent digital health
strategy/roadmap
Establish financing mechanism

Assess digital maturity and build digital

E.g. Digital health strategy in Rwanda allocates capacity
funding for digital health from the health
programmes they are developed to serve
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Strengthening legal, policy & regulatory
frameworks

Digital data Guidelines, standards

governance
o Protect data privacy,
confidentiality and security.
o Enforce rigorous safeguards
for data management.
o Ensure secure data
exchange across the health
system.
Safety & equity
& codes of conduct
 Interoperability, integration • Regulations to ensure safe
and interconnectivity across use.
the digital infrastructure. • Policies that promote
 Ensure proper and consistent equitable access
application of ethics and
standards by practitioners.

E.g. In India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare developed the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines to
facilitate the mainstreaming of telemedicine into national clinical standards and protocols, and to provide
the framework for quality and ethical telemedicine practice. This led to the introduction of a raft of new
regulations, policies and processes that aim to improve ethical and professional conduct, clinical practice
and standardization of the telehealth sector.
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Expanding digital infra- & info-structure
Infra-structure
Reliable internet and mobile
connectivity
Electricity security
Info-structure
Digital architecture for health
information exchange and
data flows
Allows digital applications to
be interoperable
E.g. OpenHIE is an open source
platform that supports open
health information architecture,
open data standards and
protocols. Many LMICs are using
this platform for its health
information system to address
fragmentation of the digital health
sector and supporting the scale
up of digital solutions.
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Fostering local innovation

• Financing mechanisms for start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators

• Facilitate private and public sector partnerships and investments

• E.g. UNDP has fostered public-private partnerships, mentorship, expert

technical assistance and seed funding to help launch and scale up digital
health initiatives:
• Dominican Republic: UNDP facilitated a partnership with InelliSys, a private startup, and a local
university to develop and scale a telehealth initiative (eHospital) which provides specialized
care and psychological support to rural communities.
• Libya: UNDP brought together the Ministry of Health and Speetar, a private start-up, to launch
the country’s first telemedicine initiative which has facilitated over 10,000 virtual consultations
and e-prescriptions in 2021.

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

 Build digital
capacity and
literacy of health
workforce

Driving the
uptake of
digital
health Address the
Design people- digital divide and
centred solutions promote digital
inclusion

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

UNDP digital health support

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME