Digital Health Strategies and Outcomes in the Global South

Digital health has become a central component of global health policy agendas, including the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Digital Health, which positions digital transformation as a driver of health systems strengthening, universal health coverage, and equity. However, national digital health strategies vary significantly in how they interpret these goals, reflecting distinct governance choices, institutional capacities, and societal values rather than technology alone.

This panel advances a comparative and policy-oriented discussion on digital health strategies in the Global South, focusing on how countries translate global frameworks into national and subnational action. It examines how strategic choices around data governance, digital infrastructures, and regulation shape the role of the state, the protection of public interest in health data, and the balance between public and private actors in health systems.

The discussion is structured around three analytical dimensions: the normative values underpinning digital health strategies, governance arrangements for health data and digital platforms, and strategic orientations for strengthening health systems through digital transformation. Drawing on crosscountry policy analysis and long-term institutional experience, the session highlights contrasting yet complementary approaches to digital health planning, implementation, and regulation.

By foregrounding comparative perspectives from the Global South, the session emphasizes that digital health trajectories are shaped primarily by political and governance decisions rather than technological determinism. The proposed discussion aims to contribute to global policy debates by identifying pathways through which digital health strategies can better align innovation with equity, accountability, and sustainable health systems development.