In 2012, Medic made a commitment to build a model for digital health services for women and children in Liberia. Twelve years later, this technology has been adopted for scale by governments around the world.
A billion people may never see a healthcare provider in their lifetime. They may walk for hours to reach the nearest health clinic, only to find it closed, or out of stock of the vaccine they need for their child.
In 2012, Medic made a million-dollar Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action to build a model for technology-supported maternal and child health services in Liberia.
Twelve years on, I took to the stage at Monday’s CGI to showcase what’s working for universal coverage.
A decade of impact: Scaling digital health for millions
The Community Health Toolkit – or CHT – is an open-source software platform that allows global partners and governments to build and deploy digital health applications tailored to local needs.
Programs across 18 countries use CHT-powered apps to support 163,000 community health workers as they monitor pregnancies, treat malaria, track vaccinations, and refer urgent cases door to door. When they are salaried, skilled, supervised, supplied, and strengthened with high-quality technology, exceptional care is delivered.
Medic’s new commitment: Driving innovation and inclusion by 2030
Building on Kenya’s extraordinary success, we’re aiming higher. By 2030, we will support 500,000 community health workers, expanding access to improved healthcare for 250 million people.
We commit to transforming the CHT into a community-owned, led and developed digital public good to accelerate innovation, inclusion, and adoption.
This means a diverse, active, and collaborative network of health actors deciding what comes next in the CHT roadmap, like AI integration, climate resilience, and disease surveillance – driven by country priorities.
It means more resources for partners and governments to take the CHT and independently build and deploy the tools they need for their community – quickly, cheaply, and easily.
I hope, in the near future, I can walk back onto the CGI stage to celebrate ‘what’s working’ – and share our collective progress in advancing health for all in the digital age
Photo Credit: Sam Hollenshead for the Clinton Foundation
Thanks for this initiative. Indeed as mentioned, the communities get nearby health care services from their villagemates. However, there is need to make the village service providers salaried and stocking them adequately with the required drugs and other supplies as well as refreshing them with knowledge and skills.
Digitalizing health care services and reporting is one of the best experiences I have had in my 26 years of civil service in Uganda.
Introduced by BRAC, with the technology manipulated by Medic mobile I was privileged to pioneer the implementation.
I chose to be ardent about it and I am happy we made a mark as Maracha district, this sending signal to our Ministry of Health to appreciate the value it added and now, it has been widely accepted, adopted and cascaded especially under the Community Health agenda.
I will live to associate and promote Electronic Community Health Information