Medic was founded on a vision of cultivating and inspiring an ecosystem of actors to achieve health for all in the digital age. When we fully embrace and elevate local wisdom and innovation, we unlock progress not just for individuals, but for everyone.
From tools to community: collective vision, shared ownership
The Community Health Toolkit (CHT) has long been open-source and community-driven – and we’re deepening our commitment this year. Inspired by a vibrant ecosystem of peers like OpenMRS and DHIS2, we are working toward a future where the CHT is fully locally-owned and community-led.
More than ever, we’re leaning into this core vision to ensure the CHT Community is self-sustaining, diverse, and able to leverage the technology to achieve unparalleled, scaled impact.
We’re on a mission to fully empower governments, developers, implementers, and – most importantly – frontline health workers who bring the CHT to life.
Medic the ‘steward’: maintaining a dynamic and inclusive community
If we cultivate open, inclusive, and intentional community contributions, we will encourage greater uptake, success, and impact of the CHT globally.
- Engaging with users across the global health community, inviting them to help shape the CHT’s future.
- Listening to our community so we can co-create solutions together .
- Fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment that embraces diverse perspectives and contributions.
Building together: opportunities to get involved with the CHT Community
CHT Community Meetups: Convening open dialogue
In February 2025, we launched Community Meetups, a new bi-monthly, vibrant hub for open dialogue, collaboration, and collective problem-solving. These sessions are for anyone using and building CHT apps, blending online forum discussions with live virtual gatherings to:
- Exchange ideas: Members share real-world challenges, insights, and innovations.
- Review the community-driven CHT roadmap: Community feedback directly influences CHT’s future direction and evolution.
- Collaborate across geographies: Diverse voices are heard, strengthening the toolkit for everyone, everywhere.
The meetups are a space for implementers to swap strategies, health workers to voice their needs, and innovators to find inspiration.
CHT Roundups: Championing community wins
Over the last three years, the CHT Roundup calls have thrived as a monthly space to showcase success stories, feature live demos, and review community projects. It’s a celebration of achievements through CHT implementations, inspiring others to replicate success and identify opportunities for collaboration.
CHT Squads: Catalyzing collective priorities into action
Inspired by other thriving open-source communities, we’ve adopted the squad model— small, cross-functional, focused teams driving progress in critical areas. Squads exemplify a ‘community-first’ approach in action, turning collective priorities and needs into tangible improvements through shared expertise. Here are some of the currently active squads as of May 2025:
- Hosting TCO: Actively reducing CHT hosting costs to keep implementations affordable and reliable.
- CHT <> DHIS 2: Enabling seamless CHT-DHIS2 data exchange via OpenFn – already piloting in Somalia and preparing for global rollout.
- Single Sign-On (SSO): Implementing OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication for CHT login with providers like Microsoft Entra ID.
- Documentation: Redesigning the CHT documentation site for easier navigation.
- Task Prioritization: Supporting the CHWs in quickly identifying the highest-priority tasks when providing care to the communities they serve.
Dev hour: Collaborating to solve technical problems
The Dev Hour is a monthly, informal virtual call for developers, implementers, and tech enthusiasts working with CHT. This is a technical call for anyone who is deploying, configuring, or building software in the CHT ecosystem. Here, you can ask questions, share knowledge, and troubleshoot challenges with peers. There is no formal agenda, just collaborative problem-solving and global connections with like-minded professionals passionate about tech for community health.
How to get involved in the CHT Community
As a valued community member, your voice is critical to shaping the direction of CHT and its community.
Whether you’re a developer fine-tuning configurations, a policymaker exploring digital health solutions, or simply curious about the CHT ecosystem, we want to hear from you.
Explore the CHT Calendar or get in touch with our team to find the right forum for you!