There is increasing recognition that digital health solutions can strengthen health systems by expanding coverage of healthcare, enhancing quality of services, and optimising resources to make services affordable for under-served populations. The last decade has seen the proliferation of digital health interventions, defined as the use of information and communications technology in support of health and health-related fields. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered escalated development and use of digital health tools and restructuring of the health ecosystem.
Despite increasing global investment in and sophistication of digital health solutions, reports from low- and middle-income countries (LIMCs) have been skewed towards short-term (12-24 months) pilot interventions, feasibility and acceptability studies. This suggests that the chances of achieving long-term benefits of digital health, such as universal health coverage and health-related Sustainable Development Goals remain slim as most pilot innovations are seldom brought to scale. There is a need for evidence on strategies, frameworks and models that enable scale-up of digital technologies for diverse use cases including for reproductive, maternal and child healthcare, infectious diseases, chronic care, emergency preparedness and response, health system integration and interoperability particularly in low resource settings.
This Research Topic aims to curate multidisciplinary papers that explore and document evidence identifying contextual factors influencing the scale-up and sustainability of digital health solutions, and theoretical or practical strategies for overcoming barriers to scale-up.
We define scale up as the embedding of a digital health product into each level of the health system (policy, practices, workflows, and daily lives of health workers) to improve output (access, scope, quality, efficiency), outcome (coverage, utilization) or impact (morbidity or mortality) rather than regrading digital interventions as standalone initiatives. We also define sustainability of a digital health solution as the longevity and continuing manifestation of its benefits and outcomes on health workforce, the standard of healthcare, patient experience, and the environment long after the initial phases of implementation.
The focus shall be on: i) innovative ways of applying and scaling up digital solutions; ii) role of COVID-19 pandemic on scale-up of interventions, iii) development and application of frameworks for scaling up and/or sustaining technologies, iv) analysis of impacts of scaling up health technologies on health outcomes of patients and target communities, v) practical experiences of sustaining digital solutions, vi) evaluation of long-term impacts of digital solutions on health workforce, the health system, and the environment within which technologies are deployed.
A diversity of papers is welcome for this collection. These include systematic and literature reviews, empirical studies, critical reviews, qualitative or quantitative studies and case reports that address the scale-up and sustainability of digital health interventions. Submissions are welcome from anywhere in the world, with priority given to research originating from LMICs and written in the English language.
Articles will be published Open Access and Frontiers is committed to helping researchers overcome financial barriers to publication. Authors for whom Open Access publication fees may pose a barrier to submitting their articles are encouraged to submit and apply for the Frontiers Fee Support program.
There is increasing recognition that digital health solutions can strengthen health systems by expanding coverage of healthcare, enhancing quality of services, and optimising resources to make services affordable for under-served populations. The last decade has seen the proliferation of digital health interventions, defined as the use of information and communications technology in support of health and health-related fields. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered escalated development and use of digital health tools and restructuring of the health ecosystem.
Despite increasing global investment in and sophistication of digital health solutions, reports from low- and middle-income countries (LIMCs) have been skewed towards short-term (12-24 months) pilot interventions, feasibility and acceptability studies. This suggests that the chances of achieving long-term benefits of digital health, such as universal health coverage and health-related Sustainable Development Goals remain slim as most pilot innovations are seldom brought to scale. There is a need for evidence on strategies, frameworks and models that enable scale-up of digital technologies for diverse use cases including for reproductive, maternal and child healthcare, infectious diseases, chronic care, emergency preparedness and response, health system integration and interoperability particularly in low resource settings.
This Research Topic aims to curate multidisciplinary papers that explore and document evidence identifying contextual factors influencing the scale-up and sustainability of digital health solutions, and theoretical or practical strategies for overcoming barriers to scale-up.
We define scale up as the embedding of a digital health product into each level of the health system (policy, practices, workflows, and daily lives of health workers) to improve output (access, scope, quality, efficiency), outcome (coverage, utilization) or impact (morbidity or mortality) rather than regrading digital interventions as standalone initiatives. We also define sustainability of a digital health solution as the longevity and continuing manifestation of its benefits and outcomes on health workforce, the standard of healthcare, patient experience, and the environment long after the initial phases of implementation.
The focus shall be on: i) innovative ways of applying and scaling up digital solutions; ii) role of COVID-19 pandemic on scale-up of interventions, iii) development and application of frameworks for scaling up and/or sustaining technologies, iv) analysis of impacts of scaling up health technologies on health outcomes of patients and target communities, v) practical experiences of sustaining digital solutions, vi) evaluation of long-term impacts of digital solutions on health workforce, the health system, and the environment within which technologies are deployed.
A diversity of papers is welcome for this collection. These include systematic and literature reviews, empirical studies, critical reviews, qualitative or quantitative studies and case reports that address the scale-up and sustainability of digital health interventions. Submissions are welcome from anywhere in the world, with priority given to research originating from LMICs and written in the English language.
Articles will be published Open Access and Frontiers is committed to helping researchers overcome financial barriers to publication. Authors for whom Open Access publication fees may pose a barrier to submitting their articles are encouraged to submit and apply for the Frontiers Fee Support program.
