Assessing country priorities for digital technology in community health programs

In 2020, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) launched the Digital Community Health Initiative (DCHI) with a vision to strengthen the quality of health care delivery at the community level in PMI partner countries by investing in the scale-up of digitally enabled community health platforms. Led by USAID and co-implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), DCHI seeks to promote generational change in data collection and use, simultaneously strengthen implementation, and improve understanding and use of digital technology.

To help achieve its goals, PMI partnered with Digital Square at PATH to conduct a mixed-methods malaria and digital community health assessment to understand the current digital environment and define country-specific priorities for using digital technology in community health programs. The partnership is divided into three phrases:

• Phase 1: Identify (rapid ecosystem assessment)

• Phase 2: Prioritize (prioritize opportunities)

• Phase 3: Implement (country-specific activities)

To achieve these goals, PMI partnered with Digital Square at PATH to conduct a mixed-methods malaria and digital community health assessment. Digital Square partnered with Population Services International (PSI) and IntraHealth International for Phases 1 and 2 and PSI, John Snow, Inc., and Last Mile Health for Phase 3.

In Phase 1 of the DCHI, Digital Square conducted a rapid ecosystem assessment to understand the community-level collection, aggregation, management, and use of malaria data, including the use of digital technologies. The assessment included a desk review, survey on digital tools in use, and interviews with national and subnational stakeholders. While all countries conducted a desk review, surveys and stakeholder interviews were completed as needed by country in order to fill gaps and triangulate results. Notably, more than 600 documents were reviewed across 27 countries, and more than 300 formal stakeholder interviews were conducted with individuals in 22 countries.

In Phase 2, Digital Square supported country-specific participatory workshops that engaged stakeholders to validate results from Phase 1 findings and identify digital health needs, opportunities, priorities, and recommendations. In total, more than 500 individuals participated in the workshops, including participants from ministries of health (MOHs), national malaria programs, community health workers (CHWs), and implementing partners involved in digital health systems or community health. Phase 1 data were then analyzed across 27 countries to identify cross-country trends, opportunities, and priorities, and results were summarized in a cross-country landscape report and individual country profiles for PMI’s 27 partner countries.

Strengthening digital community health: Lessons from designing and implementing digital tools for community health in four African countries

This white paper discusses ongoing work by DCHI to strengthen digital community health systems in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zambia. In these four countries, Digital Square is partnering with ministries of health, software developers, and other key actors to support the design and development of community-level digital tools. The objectives of this white paper are two-fold: 1) to share insights and lessons learned from developing digital community health tools in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zambia; and 2) to make recommendations based on the insights to inform country health leaders, policymakers, implementing partners, software developers, or other stakeholders who are supporting the design and development of digital community health tools in similar settings.

Country Profiles

These PMI DCHI country profiles generate and share best practices and lessons learned within PMI-supported countries to understand how digital technologies are used for community-based case management, as well as for data collection, reporting, and decision-making.

remaining profiles coming soon!

PMI Digital Community Health Initiative Cross-Country Landscape Report

PMI DCHI conducted a malaria digital community health assessment in PMI’s 27 partner countries. While this assessment focused on malaria, the findings can be used to understand the broader digital ecosystem at the community level to support integrated service delivery. The Cross-Country Landscape Report provides a cross-country synthesis of findings and presents recommendations for PMI, its partners, local actors, and other donors to advance the use of digital tools to support community health programs. Many individuals contributed to this assessment, through providing research, writing, management, and leadership support.