REVIEW article

Front. Digit. Health

Sec. Health Technology Implementation

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1391500

This article is part of the Research TopicSocioeconomic Inequalities in Digital HealthView all 5 articles

Role of Digital Health Technologies in Improving Health Financing and Universal Health Coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comprehensive Narrative Review

Provisionally accepted
olutola vivian awosikuolutola vivian awosiku1*Ibrahim Nafisa GbemisolaIbrahim Nafisa Gbemisola2*Oluwafiponmile Thomas OyediranOluwafiponmile Thomas Oyediran3Oluwaseyi Muyiwa EgbewandeOluwaseyi Muyiwa Egbewande4Jibril Habibah LamiJibril Habibah Lami5Daniel AfolabiDaniel Afolabi6Melody OkerekeMelody Okereke4Fortune EffiongFortune Effiong7*
  • 1University College Hospital Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 2Faculty of Clinical sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
  • 3Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Oyo, Nigeria
  • 4Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
  • 5Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Abuja, Nigeria
  • 6Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
  • 7University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria, Calabar, Nigeria

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Digital technologies play a key role in developing a comprehensive and resilient healthcare delivery system in many low and middle-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. These technologies aim not only to address the financial accessibility gap for health needs but also to enhance innovation, partnerships, data management, and performance across healthcare stakeholders. This paper explores existing data on health challenges, financing, and universal health coverage in sub-Saharan Africa, along with an examination of digital health technologies, their adoption, and implementation. Case studies from initiatives such as M-tiba in Kenya, Jamii in Tanzania, and L'UNION TECHNIQUE DE LA MUTUALITÉ MALIENNE in Mali are presented, along with recommendations for scale-up, policy enhancement, collaboration, support, and identification of research gaps and areas for further exploration.

Keywords: UHC (universal health coverage), Digital Health, Africa, finacing strategy, Health technologies

Received: 26 Feb 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 awosiku, Gbemisola, Oyediran, Egbewande, Lami, Afolabi, Okereke and Effiong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
olutola vivian awosiku, University College Hospital Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Ibrahim Nafisa Gbemisola, Faculty of Clinical sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Fortune Effiong, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria, Calabar, Nigeria

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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