Digital Square approves content global goods to help shape the future of health data for digital transformation
Digital Square at PATH is excited to announce the identification of six content global goods. These global goods, whose implementations span six continents, have been selected as successful applicants in the second round of Notice G (Notice G1). Notice G1 was the first-ever call for content global goods. Throughout the process, Digital Square saw remarkable engagement and enthusiasm from the community, reflecting the significance of our shared mission.
What are content global goods, and why do they matter for countries’ digital transformations?
Content global goods are valuable resources that include training courses, toolkits, and interoperability or data standards. They are available under open licenses, which grant permission for anyone to access, reuse, and redistribute an original work with few or no restrictions. Openly licensed works are free to be shared, used, and improved. These assets play a pivotal role in strengthening the capabilities required for the effective management of health data. These capabilities encompass a wide spectrum, from planning and allocating resources and personnel to managing hardware, software, infrastructure, and operational processes.
Content global goods are available to support countries in their journey towards digital transformation, ultimately leading to better public health services and an improved quality of life for citizens. From capacity strengthening to interoperability frameworks, content global goods help nurture a landscape where innovation and inclusivity can help create user-centered digital tools.
Digital Square is thrilled to collaborate with the successful applicants to scale their innovative solutions. By enhancing the availability, adaptability, and maturity of high-quality digital health tools, we aim to address countries’ identified health needs.
Content global goods are supporting countries to achieve their digital transformation goals in the following ways:
Empowering governments through capacity strengthening at the national and local levels
Governments are leading the digital transformation of public health systems at regional, national, and subnational levels. To achieve local ownership and long-term sustainability, these programs will require new approaches, skillsets, and resources within health systems. Countries are best able to maintain these new skills when they support local strategic, technical, and operational capacity.
Content global goods offer comprehensive capacity-strengthening programs tailored to the specific digital health needs of country governments. These programs provide essential training, knowledge-sharing platforms, and skill development initiatives empowering civil servants and community health workers (CHWs) to drive grassroots-level change.
Advocacy Training for Community Health Workers
A free digital training that equips CHWs with the skills to effectively share their personal stories and promote the health issues most important to their communities.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
A training course designed to empower ministry leadership with the technical concepts and planning tools necessary to steer and orient national digital health stakeholders.
Benchmarking digital transformation
Content global goods can play a vital role in helping countries assess their digital transformation progress, identify gaps, and make improvements. By using standardized benchmarking tools, countries can evaluate their digital initiatives against global standards and pinpoint areas for innovation and growth. This process creates a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the digital landscape.
The Global Digital Health Monitor (GDHM) is an interactive digital global public good that helps countries prioritize and monitor their digital health transformation, using the World Health Organization/International Telecommunications Union eHealth Strategy Toolkit as the underlying framework.
Establishing robust architecture and interoperability frameworks
The success of a country's digital transformation hinges on the seamless integration and interoperability of various health systems. Content global goods offer standardized architecture and interoperability frameworks that can serve as the backbone of a cohesive digital health infrastructure. This type of global good ensures that different health systems can seamlessly communicate and share data, avoiding the creation of isolated silos.
Health Level Seven International (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)
HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a next-generation interoperability standard created by the standards development organization Health Level 7. HL7 FHIR is designed to enable health data, including clinical and administrative data, to be quickly and efficiently exchanged.
OpenHIE is a global, mission-driven community of practice dedicated to improving the health of the underserved through open and collaborative development and support of country-driven, large-scale health information-exchange architectures. The OpenHIE community supports interoperability by creating a reusable architectural framework. This framework introduces a service-oriented approach that maximally leverages health information standards, enables flexible implementation by country partners, and supports the interchangeability of individual components.
Scaling digital heath interventions
Standardized best practices help ensure the scalability and sustainability of digital health systems. By adhering to guidelines, country governments can design and implement digital solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of their citizens, fostering a user-centric approach that prioritizes accessibility, inclusivity, and user-friendliness.
World Health Organization (WHO) SMART Guidelines
WHO SMART (Standards-based, Machine-readable, Adaptive, Requirements-based, and Testable) Guidelines are a comprehensive set of reusable digital health components (e.g., interoperability standards, code libraries, algorithms, technical and operational specifications) that transform the guideline adaptation and implementation process to preserve fidelity and accelerate uptake.
Propelling digital transformation through collaborative efforts
Global goods play a crucial role in digital transformation. With support from partners like USAID, Digital Square is committed to supporting the maturation of local markets and health systems to sustain digital health global goods for localized adoption, adaptation, and reuse. Additionally, we aim to help diversify the ecosystem to offer more locally relevant and sustainable technologies, services, and support.
To achieve this goal, Digital Square mobilizes partnerships with local software development organizations. By adopting content global goods, countries can pave the way for a digitally empowered health care future that is not just technologically advanced, but also rooted in inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability.