Moving along in the digital transformation of health
Transform Health was established as a coalition to work with partners to address broader enabling environment challenges (political leadership and governance, regulation, legislation, financing and policy environment) to the digital transformation of health systems to achieve UHC. Our newly developed Policy and Influencing Strategy guides the coalition’s advocacy agenda along specific themes (“policy wedges”) to deliver on our objectives.
Since its inception, the leadership of youth, women and marginalised communities has been integral to Transform Health’s work.
of coalition leadership roles held by women-led partners.
(May 2021-April 2022)
of coalition leadership roles held by youth-led partners.
(May 2021-April 2022)
Transform Health national coalitions are multistakeholder platforms that engage with governments, donors, and others to enable digital transformation of health systems at the country level. They leverage the collective expertise, networks, and influence of its partners to address the enabling environment challenges for digital health transformation. Transform Health Indonesia and Transform Health Kenya, established in 2021, have been growing their respective coalitions and engaging in advocacy with their communities and governments. Transform Health Ecuador and Transform Health Rajasthan (India) were set-up in 2022 and conceptualising workplans and strategies. Two additional coalitions in Mexico and Senegal are set to establish in 2023.
national-level decision-makers in six priority countries engaged by Transform Health who have publicly recognised the fundamental role of digital technology and data to achieve UHC.
(May 2021-April 2022)
Transform Health Indonesia is coordinated by the Indonesian Public Health Association (IAKMI). The coalition was officially launched on 20 May 2022 and has grown to include 21 members from the academic, professional, private, and not-for-profit sectors, including community-based organisations, over the past year. The coalition’s strategy includes the following objectives:
The launch of Transform Health Indonesia was presided over by the Chief of the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) in the Ministry of Health who acknowledged this monumental partnership. He expressed the interest of government in digital health module by the coalition. He signed a joint public commitment to support digital health for UHC.
Key engagements by Indonesia include: G20 – as member G20 and T20 Webinar by TH Indonesia and AKMI as part of G20
Key outcomes of engagements: development of the T20 Policy Brief that was submitted to the leaders of the G20.
The highlights and recommendations from this webinar contributed to the development of the T20 Policy Brief that was submitted to the leaders of the G20.
“Transform Health Indonesia is playing a key role in building a collective platform to analyse emerging digital and data innovations and provide input and recommendations to policy decision-makers in Indonesia’s health system. I am proud of the work done by our emerging coalition.”
Researcher at Center for Health Policy and Management at University Gadjah Mada, Member of Transform Health Indonesia
The coalition launched on 14th July 2022.
The launch was attended by representatives from the county governments in Isiolo, Nyeri, Kisumu, Machakos and Makueni, national government representatives from the Ministry of Health and ICT, community and civil society organisations, development partners and private actors.
Transform Health Kenya has been actively engaging with the government and partners on the development of the Kenya Health Data Governance Framework. The draft leans heavily on the Health Data Governance Principles, which were used as a guiding document during the development of the Framework. The national coalition has also been working closely with the government in the development of the National e-Health Bill and the Telemedicine Standards and Guidelines. These legislative frameworks, when implemented, will direct, institutionalise and regulate the practice of eHealth in Kenya – thus enabling widespread access to healthcare services and health information, the secure sharing and exchange of client information to deliver safe and quality healthcare, and a more equitable and responsive health system for all Kenyans – by transforming the way information is used to facilitate care and delivery of specialised health services across the country.
KeHIA’s involvement in Transform Health Kenya is timely. The coalition’s engagement in the implementation of digital health activities, especially the drafting of the e-Health Bill, indicates that we are at the right place supporting the implementation of activities that drive forward our goals.
Secretary, Kenya Health Informatics Association (KeHIA), Member of Transform Health Kenya
Transform Health Ecuador is coordinated by the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academia (CEDIA) and was established in May 2022. The coalition has been focusing on the recruitment of partners, the establishment of a governance structure, the development of a landscape analysis and a strategy, and preparing for its launch. Currently, the coalition has a membership of 20 organisations from different sectors including academia, the private sector, and civil society.
Transform Health India (Rajasthan) is coordinated by the WISH Foundation and is currently in the initial stages of its formation. To complement the work of the coalition at the state level, we are recruiting a Campaign and Mobilisation partner to lead the engagement of women, youth and other key populations at the national level to advance digital transformation around specific thematic areas.
Transform Health continues to strengthen its relationship and engagement with regional decision-makers through our partners HELINA (Health Informatics in Africa) in sub-Saharan Africa, Speak Up Africa and Baobab Institute in West Africa, RECAINSA (Central American Health Informatics Network) in Latin America, and AeHIN (Asia eHealth Information Network) in Asia. Our approach is to support their leadership and engagement around key policy areas that impact the enabling environment, and to draw on their expertise to shape our own priorities and positions.
regional and global decision-makers engaged by Transform Health who have publicly recognised the fundamental role of digital technology and data to achieve UHC.
(May 2021-April 2022)
In collaboration with our regional partners we advocated for the enabling environment necessary for digital health transformation at regional and national levels. Our advocacy was informed by regional landscape analyses developed by our partners that identified challenges and opportunities for digital health transformation in these regions, and key stakeholders we could engage.
This included advocating with key decision makers and stakeholders to build support for a global health data governance framework underpinned by the human rights-based Health Data Governance Principles, ahead of the World Health Assembly and other key moments through bilateral meetings, consultative workshops and public seminars.
Regional partners also played an active role in the development of Transform Health’s new report on digital health investment. They led regional research and consultations among experts that created a robust evidence base for the report. At the end of the year, our regional partners launched the report at the Africa HealthTech Summit in Kigali and through a regional roundtable with stakeholders in Latin America. Next year, our regional partners will ramp up advocacy for increased and better-coordinated investment with national and regional decision-makers.
Digital Health Week is a global week of action that aims to put digital health on the public and political agenda. It is a moment for us all to come together to build partnerships, share our digital health successes and challenges, and chart a roadmap towards achieving health for all. Organisations engage in the week of action by telling their stories of digital health – hosting events, making public commitments and amplifying digital health news and content in the media.
Digital Health Week highlighted the breadth and depth of the digital health field. It brought together organisations from across different sectors, including civil society and rights groups, community groups, academia, the private sector, governments, donors and multilateral organisations. This created a rich and varied set of discussions on critical topics, including data governance, the intersection between health and climate change, interoperability, gender and digital health, and highlighted good practices and learnings from across the sector.
Representatives from the Ministries of Health from Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Indonesia, Tanzania and Kenya took part in Digital Health Week events. The Ministry of Health in Ethiopia organised a week-long series of events that culminated in an in-person conference on digital health transformation in Ethiopia.
Nearly 11,000 people interacted with #DigitalHealthWeek related content on social media, and the hashtag was viewed seven and a half million times. A plethora of articles and videos were published during Digital Health Week that can be found on the Community page of the Digital Health Week website.
During Digital Health Week, Transform Health hosted two events on health data governance:
Data Bodies and Gender: Health Data Governance is a Feminist Issue
which was co-hosted with Women in Global Health and brought perspectives on how gender intersects with the issue of health data governance.
Making the case for a global health data governance framework.
Regional progress and perspectives, which was co-hosted with our regional partners AeHIN, HELINA, RECAINSA and Speak Up Africa, and shared learnings on advocacy and regulation across regions.
We also launched the ‘Take Action for HDG’ advocacy toolkit for individuals and organisations to engage on the issue – by writing to their health ministries and amplifying the messages on social media. Several of our partners also prioritised health data governance during Digital Health Week, hosting several events on the theme, including AeHIN’s Annual General Meeting, the Digital Connected Care Coalition, and John Snow Inc.
