Digital health

UNICEF envisions a world where the health and well-being of every child is improved through digitally enabled health systems. We work with governments, donors and partners to improve the planning and implementation of digital health systems to improve primary health care.

In many places, especially low-income countries and humanitarian settings, health sector digitalization is not systematically invested in. This can result in weakened and siloed systems, create new risks to child wellbeing and increase burdens on frontline health workers. In these instances, the children most in need are often left behind.

The digital transformation (DX) of healthcare systems can revolutionize patient care and healthcare outcomes. Key to this transformation are improved capacity of healthcare workers, standards-based technologies, and data-driven decision-making.

This comprehensive approach can directly enhance efficiency, accuracy and accessibility of health services, while also facilitating better communication and coordination among healthcare professionals.

Harnessing the power of data analytics, geospatial information and artificial intelligence can lead to more personalized treatments, reduced human error, early disease detection, and proactive interventions. This can ultimately improve the quality-of-care, patient outcomes and efficiency of the healthcare staff. It can also lead to more equitable coverage and lower overall costs.

Timely, high-quality data can also expose inequities in health outcomes and help decision makers identify children’s unmet needs. This information can be used to determine how and where to invest in health facilities, staff, vaccines and other supplies, which is particularly crucial when responding to emergencies like disease outbreaks.