One of Transform Health's three key objectives is advocating for increased and better coordinated domestic and international financial investments to support the equitable, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation of health systems in low and middle income countries.
To further this effort, Transform Health is launching a co-created Digital Health Investment (DHI) Checklist. The Checklist contains a set of questions to consider when designing and making investment decisions to help guide digital health investments towards delivering health for all in the digital age. It outlines key strategic considerations (part A) and priority investment areas (part B) that digital health investments should consider.
Strategic considerations
Supporting UHC Goals
Alignment & Coordination
Scalability
Equity & Inclusion
Sustainability
Localisation & Learning
Priority investment areas
- Does the investment prioritise at least one of the following investment areas?
- Leadership and governance
- Strategy and investment
- Services and applications
- Standards and interoperability
- Digital connectivity and Infrastructure
- Legislation, regulation, standards policy and compliance
- Workforce
- Data use ecosystem
- Change management
- Surveillance and response systems
- Digital financial systems and transactions
- Digital supply chain management
- Does a percentage of your investment support foundational areas, such as digital public infrastructure, leadership and governance, workforce capacity?
- Is the investment aligned to the Health Data Governance Principles?
Endorse the Checklist
We invite organisations, governments, donors, global health initiatives, implementers, the private sector and other stakeholders to endorse the Checklist. By endorsing the Checklist, stakeholders can demonstrate their commitment and alignment with the key considerations it contains.
Checklist endorsers
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- https://anicns.gouv.cd/
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- https://pmnch.who.int
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- https://recainsa.org
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- https://www.joeplangeinstitute.org/center-for-health-diplomacy/
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- https://phfi.org/
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- https://www.asiaehealthinformationnetwork.org/about_aehin/
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- https://www.jsi.com
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- https://www.intrahealth.org
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- https://www.psi.org
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- https://cmghana.org/
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- https://www.path.org
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- https://www.finddx.org/
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- https://www.enda-sante.org/
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- https://www.raddho-africa.org
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- https://www.kajou.io/
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- https://www.guilddigital.co
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- https://helinanet.org
Primary audiences
Governments
Donors
Global health initiatives and implementors
Private sector investors and implementors
Public procurement decision makers
Civil society and advocates
Use cases
We hope the Checklist will serve as a useful framework to help guide decision-making on investments in digital health, complementing related tools, which provide more granular guidance on selecting, costing, and implementing digital health interventions. Potential use cases for the Checklist are detailed in the following tabs.
Evaluating New Investments
Assess proposed digital health interventions to ensure alignment with strategic priorities. Identify potential gaps or areas for improvement before committing resources.
Portfolio Evaluation
Use the Checklist to review and assess an organisation’s entire digital health funding portfolio.
Informing Funding Decisions
Guide decision-making on allocating resources to digital health projects.
Advocacy Tool
Advocate with governments and funders to priorities the investment areas to strengthen the enabling environment. Advocate for increased budget allocations for digital health, prioritising the areas outlined in the Checklist. Use the Checklist to guide budget proposals submitted by the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Finance.
Accountability Tool
Use in advocacy to hold decision makers accountable for meeting the needs of communities and end-users in their investment decisions. Track investments against commitments made, e.g., on equity, sustainability, interoperability, gender, UHC, etc.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Apply the Checklist as a framework for tracking and reporting on the effectiveness of digital health investments, ensuring alignment with intended outcomes.
Planning and Coordination
Support donors and implementing partners in coordinating investments to avoid fragmentation or duplication. Use as a set of guidelines for donor or external funding.
Strategy Development
Help governments or organisations develop or refine digital health strategies by identifying missing elements in strategic or costed plans.
Procurement and Vendor Engagement
Provide feedback to potential vendors on how their proposals align with national digital health priorities and the Checklist's criteria. Ensure vendor-provided solutions are equitable, interoperable, and aligned with sustainability goals.
Capacity Building
Use the Checklist as a training tool to enhance understanding of strategic investment areas among government officials, funders, and implementing partners.
Tailored Adaptation
Customise the Checklist for specific use cases, such as digital health solutions for frontline workers, climate-resilient health systems, or sub-national strategies. Adapt the Checklist for private sector audiences.
Complementary tools
Digital Health Investment Review Tool (DHIRT) (2.0 being released soon)