Developing a Digital Health Investment Taxonomy

As part of the Geneva Digital Health Day, taking place on the 22 May at Campus Biotech, Transform Health, GIDH (WHO Hosted Network), PATH, and JSI are convening stakeholders to gather early insights into the development of a digital health investment taxonomy - a first step towards improved tracking of investment, which is important to ensure that funding is optimised to support UHC.

Digital health funding is a powerful catalytic investment to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). However, current investments in digital health are falling short of the long-term sustainable changes needed to build effective, stronger, more resilient health systems that can deliver UHC. At the end of 2022, Transform Health published a report, ‘Closing the digital divide: More and better funding for the digital transformation of health’, that identified a $12.5 billion investment need over the next five years for low and lower-middle-income countries and sets out a conceptual framework to guide investment and action to support equitable, inclusive, and sustainable digital health transformation.

However, an obscure funding landscape around what is being funded, how, and by whom, is undermining the potential of digital health towards UHC goals. Currently, digital health is not routinely tracked as part of health system and UHC monitoring and there is no agreed classification for digital investment as part of funding tracking mechanisms (such as OECD DAC Creditor Reporting System and National Health Accounts). This lack of transparency poses challenges to: a) quantifying funding needs; b) making the case for resources; c) ensuring investments are coordinated and aligned with national priorities; and to holding funders and decision-makers accountable for funds reaching the priorities and populations in need.

The 2024 G20 Health Ministers Declaration, under the Brazilian Presidency, recognised the need to improve tracking of digital health investments, calling for action from countries and development partners to support this. During the second G20 Health Working Group meeting, key digital health partners - including OECD, WHO, World Bank, USAID and UNICEF - agreed to strengthen coordination, including developing tools that can help track digital health expenditure, leveraging existing tracking and reporting mechanisms.

A crucial first step towards tracking digital health investments is to define what should be tracked, both within and outside of health system investment. Building global consensus and agreement around a digital health investment taxonomy would help standardise what and how digital health investment areas are defined.

Towards this end, this session will convene stakeholders as part of a workshop to gather early insights to inform a digital health taxonomy. This will also include gathering perspectives and learning from countries, donors and international organisations around what and how they are currently tracking investment and what is needed to better report on investment. The session will also facilitate a discussion around what is needed to improve the transparency and tracking of investment as part of routine mechanisms, such as National Health Accounts, the OECD-DAC donor reporting system and System of Health Accounts (SHA), as well as health systems planning, budgeting and UHC monitoring.

Register here to attend this session in person in Geneva.

Please note that you also need to register for the Geneva Digital Health Day through the link here.