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Given the shifts in the ecosystem over the past several years and in response to community feedback, Digital Square recently launched a special call for applications, Notice G, which is dedicated to funding digital health technologies worldwide that qualify as global goods. Existing global goods are invited to participate in this call.
Read MoreData science—the tools and approaches used to collect, manage, analyze, and use data—is a building block for data-led health systems and services. As the global health community focuses on building the digital future of health, we must include data science tools and approaches.
Read MoreDigital Square is pleased to announce a partnership with the University of Global Health Equity to develop a new digital capacity strengthening initiative.
Read MoreWe live in an age of digital health transformation. Everyone—from patients to health workers to health system managers—can benefit from the connections and information that digital technologies provide. Countries are embracing digital systems and approaches as an essential way to improve and expand health services. However, these digital health systems bring with them a flood of data, which requires tools, resources, and capabilities to turn data into actionable insights.
Read MoreDigital Square envisions a world where digitally-enabled health services close the health equity gap. We cannot achieve this vision without actively working to dismantle entrenched and systemic racism. We believe that digital health is an amplifier: it has great potential to accelerate progress towards health equity but without a deliberately anti-racist approach, risks perpetuating inequity. We must actively stand against racism. As an initiative hosted by PATH, Digital Square asserts that racism is an ongoing public health crisis--one that is directly counter to Digital Square's vision, mission, and values.
Read MoreAs the global response to COVID-19 accelerates, thoughtful leaders in every sector are asking: how can we structure our response to not only respond to the needs of today, but to ‘build back better’ once the crisis is over?
The value of open source software goes far beyond cost. Open source software does provide a set of cost-effective, adaptable options for countries, but the benefits of open source are more complex and nuanced than cost savings. The growth of the open source ecosystem is due in large part to an ethos of openness that has reduced barriers of entry for new solutions, allowed countries the flexibility to deploy customizable solutions to meet their needs, and provided key capacity-building opportunities for emergent entrepreneurs and technologists in the countries where these systems were being deployed. Open source software can also deepen country ownership of their digital health systems, expanding a country’s choices for data hosting, vendor support, and applications beyond a single health vertical or program.
Read MoreThe Digital Square team, along with other members of PATH’s Center of Data and Digital Excellence will be joining colleagues and collaborators from around the world for the 2019 Global Digital Health Forum. This year's Forum - Celebrating Innovation and Supporting Proven Practices at Scale - seeks to balance the need for evidence based scaling of proven systems with the urgent need to determine how emerging technologies and approaches can dramatically improve health outcomes.
Read MoreImagine this: your community is threatened with a disease that kills one of every two people infected. You hear rumors about new cases that seem to be drawing closer to your neighborhood, but official reports disagree. You see international groups coming in to help. But they won’t let you bury your loved ones. They say they must “track” you with their mobile phones since you were at an event with someone who was exposed. How do you know that your local health facility is equipped to handle this disease or that health workers know the proper treatment? What information do you trust?
Read MoreDigital technology has changed the way health information is collected, used, and communicated, and it has the potential to dramatically improve health service delivery. Health workers are better able to track and serve patients, health officials are better able to allocate resources, and patients have greater access to information to fulfill their health care needs. However, poor coordination in the digital health sector has led to duplicate systems, fragmented data, and frustration for health workers, decision-makers, and patients alike. The sector is recognizing this historic lack of coordination as a barrier to its collective success. To address it, governments and donors are forging a new way forward.
The Coordinating Digital Transformation case study series explores three examples of how stakeholders came together to create mechanisms for coordinating digital health investments and implementations, and as a result are improving the quality and use of health data.
Read MoreDigital health is experiencing unprecedented growth in coordination and collaboration. Governments, funders, technology experts, and implementers, are working together in new and innovative ways. Collaboration requires shared language, shared values, and a shared vision. Many of these were codified in 2015 with the Principles of Digital Development—a set of nine principles that guide our actions and partnerships. Then last year, donors endorsed a set of Digital Investment Principles. The Digital Investment Principles describe the role investors have in promoting scalable, sustainable, accessible, interoperable, and evidence-based digital health systems. Both sets of principles have rallied stakeholders around our shared responsibility to help countries meet their digital health needs.
Read MoreDigital Square is pleased to announce its new Executive Director, Skye Gilbert.
In this role, Skye will help guide the future of Digital Square’s co-investment, global goods, country capacity, and regional partnership work. When she is not busy driving towards health equity, Skye can be found rock climbing or skiing in the mountains. Read more about her motivation for leading Digital Square.
Read MoreDigital Square is pleased to announce that nine proposals were selected for investment as part of our third round of funding, Notice C, which included two announcements, Notice C0 and Notice C1. A total of $1.26 million is being invested into these digital health software tools by multiple donors. One of these donors, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), committed a total of $151,827 to coinvest alongside Digital Square’s funding for Notice C1. Notice C was implemented using Digital Square’s Open Proposal Process and Platform (OPP&P). Concept notes and proposals were publicly posted, giving submitters the opportunity to find collaborators and provide and receive feedback from peers. The iterative feedback and proposal process allowed submitters to refine and strengthen their concepts before final submission. More information on our proposal process can be found here.
Read MorePeople often think of innovation in digital health as a new device or tool. But innovation most often doesn’t materialize into an object that one can ever touch or feel. Whether it be approaches to scale or investment models, the real innovations in digital health are the approaches taken to navigate hurdles to help countries appropriately harness digital systems and tools to improve health outcomes. Digital Square fully embraces all kinds of innovation in the digital health space. We are at our core, an innovative investment mechanism, supported by a growing consortium of donors; something very unique in the global health ecosystem.
Read MoreThe Digital Square team, along with other members of PATH’s Digital Health Program will be joining colleagues and collaborators from around the world for the 2018 Global Digital Health Forum. This year, the Forum explores how new frameworks like the Classifications of Digital Health Interventions can help us design a shared language for digital health. With a shared language, digital health practitioners are better able to create holistic, seamless digital health systems that make use of different tools, partners, and workflows to meet the diverse and ever-changing needs of a country’s health care system.
Read MoreDigital Square is pleased to announce that ten proposals were selected for investment as part of our second round of funding, Notice B. More information on the criteria for funding can be found in the Call for Proposals—Notice B, located on the Digital Square Wikipedia page. A total of $1.2 million is being invested into these digital health software tools. The funding recipients have also committed a total of $400,000 to co-invest alongside Digital Square’s funding.
Read MoreLast month at the Global Digital Health Forum, I introduced Digital Square to many colleagues. “Digital Square is an innovative co-investment mechanism,” I said. “Yes, but what exactly does Digital Square do?” was a common response.
Here’s what we do.
Read MoreLast month, more than 550 individuals in the digital health field – representing ministries of health, implementing organizations, and other partners – met for the fourth annual Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) in Washington, DC. The conference, which experienced a 30 percent increase in participation from 2016, has established itself as a landmark annual event in the space. Over the course of three days, speakers and participants engaged in over 80 sessions, roundtables, and workshops to share lessons learned and best practices.
Read MoreWhether on the political, scientific, or cultural front, the world today is in a state of flux. Reviews from BCG, McKinsey, Deloitte, and Accenture highlight major demographic shifts, the increasing importance of technology in health, and the convergence of business and technical considerations. Digital platforms and solutions are emerging as a source of hope, inspiration, and connection.
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