Knowledge Base

In partnership with the Iraq Ministry of Health (MOH), the Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC), the Communications, Planning, Finance and other Ministries, UNICEF and development partners including the World Food Program (WFP), UNDP, WHO and the World Bank convened a Digital Health Transformation Convergence Workshop in Baghdad, Iraq on 16-18 January 2023. The Workshop launched the development of a National Digital Health Transformation Strategy and Digital Health Blueprint/Architecture to guide current and future digital health transformation investments and activities.

This stepwise toolkit on interoperability is intended to:
• Provide an overview of the key components critical to planning and implementing interoperable digital health interventions within the broader context of digital transformation in a country.
• Highlight critical budgeting considerations when planning for national, interoperable digital health implementations.
• Provide an overview of additional guidance available for a more detailed examination into the concepts presented in this document.
This toolkit is written for individuals who need to understand the importance of interoperability and its key components to be able to invest in national systems accordingly.

This report presents an opportunity to reflect on the collaborative achievements reached so far with partners, members, colleagues, and donors. UNICEF’s achievements throughout 2022 will be described across four major categories, outlining support for (a) advancing national digital health strategies and policies, (b) the discovery, development and use of data and digital platforms for Primary Health Care (PHC), (c) knowledge management and capacity building for digital health and information systems, and (d) the shaping of the global agenda for the use of digital health and information system technologies.

This report presents the digital health tools that are in use in Lao PDR with details of their usage and scale, and, where available, information about implementing agencies, donors etc. The report concludes with appendices which provide additional resources and information.

This handbook focuses on a specific set of applications of geospatial data and technologies in support of microplanning, and thus complements other existing guidelines on the microplanning process. Ultimately, this handbook aims to provide health officials with guidance on how to integrate geospatial data and technologies – in particular, geographic information systems (GIS) – into the microplanning process. The handbook also provides evidence on the benefits of geo-enabled microplanning. The handbook is designed to support readers who are either implementing a geo-enabled microplanning process, or deciding whether to start such a process.

The Primer on Digital Solutions for COVID-19 Vaccination Service Delivery was created during a time when global attention was focused on getting shots from ports into arms in low- and middle-income countries. It was originally designed to be an easy-touse cheat sheet, and was presented in country consultations to help those engaged with vaccination efforts to plan and deploy data and digital tools effectively, and to balance the sometimes-competing imperatives to act quickly while strengthening existing systems and addressing long-term sustainability.

The DIIG Quick Deployment Guide was developed by the World Health Organization to help governments and technical partners plan a digital health implementation focusing on one or more health programmes supporting national health system goals. It is designed to provide users with step by-step guidance through planning, costing and implementing digital health interventions within a digital health enterprise.

From the perspective of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH), the aim of this mapping is to chart and review the situation on the use of digital solutions in RMNCAH program implementation, utilization, and provision of services and its enabling environments such as digital health infrastructure and to find about opportunities for effective adoption, integration, and scale-up of digital solutions in RMNCAH.

Objectives: supporting the inclusion of GIS investment in funding requests of the Gavi CDS funding mechanism by indicating recommended GIS activities that are relevant to the CDS objectives, supporting in the identification of the main cost drivers and activities to be costed, clarifying and streamlining technical support available by the joint WHO UNICEF GIS
Working Group in the application process

From the perspective of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH), the aim of this mapping is to chart and review the situation on the use of digital solutions in RMNCAH program implementation, utilization, and provision of services and its enabling environments such as digital health infrastructure and to find about opportunities for effective adoption, integration, and scale-up of digital solutions in RMNCAH.

DIGITAL SQUARE RECOGNIZES A COORDINATED APPROACH TO DIGITAL INVESTMENTS IS ESSENTIAL TO QUICKLY SCALE ACCESS TO TIME-SENSITIVE DATA AND INFORMATION NEEDED TO INFORM AN EFFECTIVE DISEASE OUTBREAK RESPONSE. Without this critical alignment of funding to existing digital health infrastructure, there is a risk of deepening fragmentation of digital tools and data silos that could hamper COVID-19response efforts and undermine health systems. As the world learned during the West Africa Ebola outbreak response, prioritizing the reuse and adaptation of existing digital tools is vital to quickly scale access to time-sensitive disease information and data. The USAID-funded Map & Match project helps countries, donors, implementing partners, and the global digital health community at large to leverage and adapt existing digital tools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Digital Health Atlas is a WHO global technology registry platform aiming to strengthen the value and impact of digital health investments, improve coordination, and facilitate institutionalization and scale.

This guide provides an overview of the most promising evidence-based digital innovations and procedures that can be deployed at different times during vaccine planning, distribution and scaling up in low- and middle income settings, using the NDVP framework.

The key aim of this guideline is to present recommendations based on a critical evaluation of the evidence on emerging digital health interventions that are contributing to health system improvements, based on an assessment of the benefits, harms, acceptability, feasibility, resource use and equity considerations.

This practical Guide serves as a companion to the “WHO guideline: recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening” and provides a systematic process for countries to develop a costed implementation plan for digital health within one or more health programme areas, drawing guidance from the WHO guideline recommended digital health interventions, providing direction to ensure investments are needs-based and contribute effective and interoperable systems aligned with national digital architecture, country readiness, health system and policy goals.

The Early Stage Digital Health Investment Tool (EDIT) is an essential first step for countries that are in the early stages of assessing readiness for digital health interventions or that are developing a more coordinated strategic approach to digital health.

The Digital Pandemic Preparedness Assessment (DPPA) Tool aims to provide a systematic methodology to identify needs for digital tools that integrate with countries’ existing digital ecosystem, while modernizing their overall pandemic preparedness, response and vaccination roll-out planning and execution.

UNICEF provided a digital health platform called CommCare to help Jamaica manage its national vaccine rollout.

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Health Information Systems (MEHIS) Strategy 2017–2022 provides the strategic vision and the targets to help monitor and evaluate the implementation of HSSP II. Additionally, the strategy aims to strengthen health information systems to enable the use of data in decision making. The MEHIS strategy compliments HSSP II, a strategy that will deliver universal health coverage in Malawi and ensure thatall people are able to enjoy a healthy and productive life.

This report presents the digital health tools that are in use in PNG with details of their usage and scale, and, where available, information about implementing agencies, donors and other additional resources.