The promise of digital health: addressing non-communicable diseases to accelerate universal health coverage in LMICs

September 2018

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Policy Reports

Summary

The report “The Promise of Digital Health” highlights how digital health solutions can transform healthcare delivery, particularly for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). NCDs cause 70% of global deaths, with three-quarters in LMICs, yet funding is insufficient. Digital health, using ICT in various forms, can change healthcare’s cost-quality equation, empower stakeholders, and expand access, thus improving outcomes and aiding UHC.

Key aspects include:

  1. Digital Health Impact: Solutions like electronic health records, mobile health apps, and internet-connected devices improve patient monitoring and healthcare delivery. Investment in digital health can strengthen health systems and specifically combat NCDs, offering broader health benefits.
  2. Innovation in LMICs: LMICs are ripe for digital health innovation due to unmet health needs, mobile penetration, and open regulatory environments, allowing these countries to adopt new solutions quickly.
  3. Financial Sustainability: Scalable, user-centric digital health solutions are essential. National scaling of telemedicine in Ghana exemplifies this.
  4. Strategy and Governance: Strong digital health strategies, leadership, and intersectoral collaboration between ICT and health are critical. Some 120 countries have digital health strategies, supported by frameworks from ITU, WHO, and others.
  5. Regulation: Effective regulations ensure patient safety, data security, and innovation. Categories include data management, device regulation, and care delivery.
  6. Communication Infrastructure: Accessible and affordable connectivity is crucial. Governments should also develop common digital health platforms for efficiency and interoperability.
  7. Interoperability: Essential for coordinated care, interoperability allows different systems to connect. Governments should promote open standards and unique citizen IDs to link patient information.

Overall, digital health is essential for achieving UHC and transforming healthcare in LMICs.