In the rapidly evolving world of healthcare, technology has become more than just a tool; it’s a core component of a modern health system. Yet, simply adopting new tech isn’t enough. For Africa to truly benefit from digital health, it requires strong, strategic leadership to guide this transformation.
What does Strategic Digital Health Leadership look like?
Effective leadership in this space is about much more than just IT expertise. It’s about a holistic vision that prioritises people and impact. Strategic leaders must:
- Prioritise solutions that address real problems: instead of implementing technology for technology’s sake, leaders must choose digital health interventions that directly address the most pressing health challenges in their communities. This means focusing on solutions that are evidence-based and centred on the needs of both patients and healthcare workers.
- Foster collaboration and partnerships: Digital Health thrives in an ecosystem of collaboration. Strong leaders build partnerships between governments, private tech companies, and non-profit organizations. This synergy helps overcome challenges like a fragmented market and ensures that solutions are both cost-effective and scalable.
- Invest in people, not just technology: Technology is only as good as the people who use it. Leaders must prioritise training and capacity-building programs that equip healthcare professionals with the skills to use new digital tools effectively. This includes everything from managing electronic health records to understanding data analytics and AI systems. At Digital Health Skills for Africa (DHSA), we are seeing a lot of exciting developments in the Digital Health space across Africa. Our focus is on ensuring a digitally-enabled healthcare workforce is ready to meet these opportunities. Prioritising training programs, actively involving our company with building the Digital Health ecosystem to seek a major push for more accessible solutions and highlighting African-led innovations, keeping a close eye on the increasing use of telemedicine and AI-powered tools, are some of the things we are focused on.
- Establish clear governance and policies: to build a trustworthy digital health system, strong governance is essential. Leaders must develop ethical guidelines and regulatory frameworks for data privacy and security. These policies ensure that AI and other technologies are used responsibly, fairly, and with the public’s trust. A key organisation leading this work is Transform Health, a global coalition of over 200 partners. They emphasise that establishing clear governance and policies is essential for this transformation. The coalition itself works to strengthen health data governance by bringing together stakeholders to build political will and create an enabling environment for responsible digital health evolution. To this end, they launched the Health Data Governance Principle (HDGP), which aims to maximise the public benefit of health data while protecting individual rights. These policies ensure that AI and other technologies are used responsibly, fairly, and with the public’s trust.
By focusing on these strategic pillars, leaders can move beyond fragmented pilot projects and build robust, sustainable digital health ecosystems that genuinely improve health outcomes. The goal is to create a unified approach that ensures all digital health applications are integrated and work together to serve the entire community.
Sources:
National Library of Medicine
