Announcing: The Digital Health Applied Leadership Program
Digital Square is pleased to announce a partnership with the University of Global Health Equity to develop a new digital capacity strengthening initiative.
Governments across sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America have committed to strengthening their health systems using digital technologies. Creating impactful, sustainable digital health systems requires one thing above all else: people.
Specifically, digital transformation requires people with a unique combination of technical skill, leadership ability, and commitment to collaboration. As more countries take ownership of their digital transformation, these digital health champions must come from ministries of health and other government agencies.
However, existing digital health curricula are not designed to equip health leaders—and the governing bodies they sit in—with all the skills needed to lead digital transformation. A new approach is necessary to build a cadre of talented, connected, and motivated digital champions within government ministries.
Extracted from interviews with more than 60 stakeholders from country governments, donor agencies, education providers, and other digital health stakeholders.
The Digital health applied leadership program
Since 2018, the digital health community has been developing a shared vision for digital health capacity strengthening. From the WHO/ITU workshop held in Lesotho in 2018 through a six-month global consultation process, governments' specific needs were established. With support from a consortium of advisors, including the WHO, and support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PEPFAR, USAID, and the McGovern Foundation, Digital Square began work on a new initiative called the Digital Health Applied Leadership Program (DHALP).
The DHALP aims to advance the skills and capabilities of country-level digital health practitioners and stakeholders—strengthening the ability for ministries to own and lead digital transformation efforts. With a blended learning approach and a focus on relationship building, the DHALP takes a holistic view of country practitioners' skills and knowledge to drive digital transformation.
Digital Square has partnered with the University of Global Health Equity to translate this idea into reality. Selected through a competitive process, the University of Health Equity assembled a consortium of partners, including the University of Thies, Inshuti Mu Buzima, and the Stanford University Center for Health Education to support the implementation of the DHALP—providing academic rigor and educational best practices to the curriculum.
“We’re delighted to be working with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and its consortium partners towards supporting the learning goals of health leaders throughout sub-Saharan Africa,” said Skye Gilbert, Digital Square’s Executive Director. “In an era of misinformation, privacy and security concerns and reduced physical interactions in health systems, digital health governing bodies face increasingly complex decisions. We are very excited to welcome this strong consortium to the Digital Square community, and look forward to celebrating their achievements in supporting leaders and governments.”
UGHE and its partners will build on existing curricula, establish a selection process for DHALP learners, and begin training an initial cohort of participants from multiple countries.
“We are extremely honored to have been awarded the Digital Health Applied Leadership Program,” shared UGHE. “The goal of this exciting project is to achieve the full capacity of digital health initiatives and to foster the leadership needed for the sustainable expansion of digital health across francophone and anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa. Ultimately, this project will strive to develop networks of communities of practice and regional hubs to foster the much needed development of digital health throughout the region.”
The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), is a global health sciences university based in Rwanda with the bold mission to radically transform the way global health care is delivered by training the next generation of health professionals to provide equitable, quality health services for all. As an initiative of Partners In Health (PIH), UGHE builds on the lessons learned from PIH’s three decades of delivery experience in diverse health care settings across the globe. With a state-of-the-art campus, UGHE is charting a bold trajectory into the future of global health education through evidence-based practice and direct community-based learning, and stands as the first university created to drive equitable delivery of health care to the world’s most vulnerable populations.