Devex CheckUp: Charting a way forward for digital health

Digital innovations were supposed to revolutionize health care systems. Instead, health workers in some circumstances now contend with a host of mobile applications and systems that overlap in the information they collect.

Instead of just contending with duplicative paper records, many health workers now have the added burden of “multiple applications, multiple devices, with multiple data entry points,” according to Natschja Ratanaprayul, a technical officer in the public digital health technologies unit at the World Health Organization. And on top of that, many of those systems aren’t even speaking to each other.

Untangling this problem begins with standardizing these digital services. Low- and middle-income countries are slowly beginning the process of adopting Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR, which is an open-source standard that should ease digital exchange for health care. WHO is assisting this process by creating guidance that should help integrate FHIR (pronounced FYE-er) into health systems and set a standard that new apps and programs can follow.

That’s all easier said than done, of course. Successfully streamlining the digital space still requires more resources and a commitment from governments that might take the shape of a national digital health strategy.

Read: The push to standardize digital health

Let there be light

How do you run a hospital without electricity? For too long, health workers at facilities in Nagaland, a state in northeastern India, have had to wrestle with this question. A power cut during an emergency can worsen any crisis, but routine power shortages have also made it more difficult to provide even basic services, such as vaccinations.

The cuts to power are due, in part, to extreme weather events that have been linked to climate change. In fact, in 2021 alone, Nagaland experienced more than 800 water- and climate-related events.

So when it came to addressing the problem of electricity shortages, officials turned to a climate-friendly intervention: installing solar panels in health facilities. Over the past six years, and with the support of a $60 million World Bank project, more than 175 health centers and hospitals in the state have installed solar power panels.

The intervention should be a win-win: cutting the health system’s dependence on environmentally unfriendly generators, while still securing a consistent source of electricity to improve health care for patients across the state.

Read: How the World Bank is building climate-resilient health systems in India

What’s up, doc?

Solar panels aren’t the only technology improving health facilities across the global south. In Uganda, health officials are experimenting with artificial intelligence to diagnose malaria and other diseases.

Here’s how it works: Doctors are affixing microscopic eyepieces to smartphones to get digital images of blood samples. The AI algorithm can then identify and annotate individual malaria parasites in the sample, comparing them to an image dataset to determine whether there is an infection. And it does all of this in about 90 seconds, whereas a human using a microscope — the “gold standard” of malaria diagnosis — can take an average of 15 minutes.

There is a fear that these kinds of AI interventions could push health workers out of jobs. But the technology developers at the AI Health Lab in Uganda emphasize that it is not meant to be a replacement, but a way to lighten workloads.

In fact, they insist that AI offers a range of interventions that could help streamline health systems and offload work from overburdened doctors and nurses. They are working with officials at the Uganda Cancer Institute, for instance, to develop technology that would make it easier to diagnose cervical cancer.

There are limitations, though, beginning with unreliable internet in some of the communities that might benefit most from the technology. And uptake of these systems may depend on whether patients are willing to accept a diagnosis from AI rather than a doctor.

Read: How AI is bringing accuracy and efficiency to malaria diagnosis in Uganda

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More money, please!

Happy Universal Health Coverage Day! To mark the occasion, we have an opinion piece from the UHC Political Movement Panel that highlights the progress toward the goal of ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has access to the quality health services they need without the risk of financial hardship.

Among the highlights in 2024: The World Bank pledged to expand UHC to 1.5 billion people and Japan launched a UHC Knowledge Hub. But actual advances toward UHC are going to require more financial commitments from governments. The hub can play a role in that process by educating policymakers about the financial benefits of investing in health.

Donors also have a role to play by channeling their health funds toward efforts to improve overall health systems, rather than disease-focused interventions. They could also be talking about debt relief, which would free up resources for low- and middle-income countries to invest in health systems.

Opinion: With political will, we can close the health financing gap

Resolution solution

Is one of your goals for 2025 to get a new job? Our Devex Careers team has been ferreting out tips for a career in global health — here are a few to get you started.

• Career advice from a global health consultant (Career)

• Insider tips for landing a role with WHO (Career)

• 5 things to know if you’re pursuing a career in global health.

• The top WASH employers in global development.

• How to land a job with FHI 360 (Career)

+ On Monday, Dec. 16, we’ll be hosting an event for Devex Career Account members with insights from a career coach on the do’s and don’ts of using AI in your 2025 job hunt.

Not a member yet? Sign up now to unlock 100% access to all of our career advice guides, articles, events, and job board.

One big number

That’s the number of primary and secondary school children who received school meals in 2022. It’s a number that experts who put together the 2024 Global Survey of School Meal Programs warn is too low since it represents just a quarter of the children and adolescents in the age group globally.

Indeed, countries and programs have struggled to keep up with inflation. As a result, funding for school meals, when adjusted for inflation, actually fell in low- and middle-income countries between 2017 and 2022. That has led some countries to cut back the number of meals they serve.

This has consequences on children’s health, not least because school feeding programs are often a vital nutritional lifeline. The survey found that most school meal programs had nutritional and health objectives. Some included fortified food items and 69% engaged nutritionists. But there was no data on how much the programs reduced malnutrition.

Read: 5 things to know from the latest global survey on school meal programs

What we’re reading

As scientists try to understand the mutations in mpox that are fueling the outbreak in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the town at the epicenter of that outbreak offers more questions than answers. [The New York Times]

Malaria cases rose for the fifth straight year, as the disease killed more than 600,000 people in 2023. [The Guardian]

The likelihood of reaching a pandemic agreement by the May 2025 deadline is called into question, as Europe and Africa remain divided over what benefits countries should receive for sharing information about pathogens. [Health Policy Watch]

Health officials are impatiently awaiting results that will help determine the unidentified disease that has killed nearly 80 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and infected hundreds more. [Voice of America]