Resources

The Digital Pandemic Preparedness Assessment (DPPA) Toolkit was commissioned by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to the GFA Consulting Group on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and with support from Digital Square. The tool aims to provide a systematic methodology to identify the need for digital tools that integrate with countries’ existing digital ecosystems while also modernizing their overall pandemic preparedness. The DPPA integrates and builds on data from the USAID Map and Match project and also uses the EDIT tool developed by the Kati collective to help assess the state of digital health readiness.The DPPA Tool, first published in 2021, has now been tested and refined in assessments, which were carried out in five countries (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo) in 2021-2022. After completing these assessments, GIZ updated the Toolkit to Version 2.0 and completed the following analyses and reports.

Assessing Country Priorities for Digital Technology in Community HealthIn 2020, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) launched the Digital Community Health Initiative (DCHI) to strengthen community-level health care in partner countries by scaling up digitally enabled platforms. Led by USAID with the CDC, DCHI aims to improve data collection and use, strengthen implementation, and expand the role of digital tools in health.To support this vision, PMI partnered with Digital Square at PATH to conduct a malaria and digital community health assessment and define country-specific priorities. The work is carried out in three phases:Phase 1: Identify – Rapid ecosystem assessments, including desk reviews (600+ documents), surveys, and 300+ stakeholder interviews across 27 countries.Phase 2: Prioritize – Workshops with 500+ stakeholders (ministries of health, malaria programs, CHWs, and partners) to validate findings and identify needs, opportunities, and priorities. Results were summarized in a cross-country report and 27 country profiles.Phase 3: Implement – Country-specific activities aligned with national malaria strategies, such as tool piloting, systems development, governance strengthening, and CHW capacity-building. Sample activities included:Burkina Faso: Support CHWs with digital tools (CommCare, RapidPro, DHIS2) and strengthen the enabling environment.Burma: Build national capacity and support digital health architecture analysis.Mozambique: Develop a community health information sub-system plan with the MOH.Nigeria: Strengthen governance structures, train CHWs, and pilot updated digital data collection tools.Tanzania: Expand OpenSRP for HIV and malaria interventions on the Mainland, and integrate vulnerable children’s data into national systems in Zanzibar.

South Africa has the highest number of people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the world and the highest number of people enrolled in antiretroviral (ART) therapy. While significant progress has been made since ART was introduced in 2004, there is a need to reduce new infections further and to increase ART initiation and retention.Digital health interventions can strengthen the health system, but success relies on an effective digital health ecosystem.The Gates Foundation tasked Digital Square with conducting an HIV digital health landscape assessment in South Africa’s two most populous provinces to understand the prevalence and barriers to treatment of HIV. Digital Square also investigated how the digital health ecosystem is affecting progress toward local HIV targets and the Sustainable Development Goals in the public health sector.The report, Digital Health to Support HIV Care: A landscape assessment of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa (2022), provides an overview of HIV and its associated digital health ecosystem. Promising practices, gaps, challenges, and recommendations identified through the assessment can assist provincial health leaders, donors, and other partners with strengthening the digital health ecosystem in the public health sector to support HIV and other health programs.In addition to the list of systems, tools, and applications described in the report, the table, Digital health systems, applications and tools identified by the Map & Match and Vital Wave projects, can assist with future landscape assessments.The Provincial Data Governance Framework, developed during the project, can support provinces in implementing and ultimately complying with the Draft National Data and Cloud Policy.

Youth Ownership of Digital Health (YO.DH) is a volunteer-led community for digital health professionals aged 35 and under, created to build leadership capacity, foster peer networks, and create a platform for knowledge exchange. The initiative rests on three key pillars: community engagement, capacity-building, and networking, aimed at nurturing young, well-informed, and responsible digital health leaders.YO.DH was launched in July 2023, with support from the Gates Foundation, and in partnership with International Innovation Corps, Digital Square, and WomenLift Health. Since then, YO.DH has grown into a thriving, self-sustaining community of over 1,000 members, representing 44 countries and 170 cities.The community prides itself on its gender-inclusive approach, with women constituting 51% of its membership. Members hail from diverse sectors, including civil society organizations, consulting firms, start-ups, non-profits, and government bodies. The community operates based on the principles of Communities of Practice, fostering collaboration, shared learning, and ownership among its members. Its democratic structure ensures broad participation and leadership development, facilitated by a Secretariat, a 19-member core committee comprising members from India and Africa, and rolling cohorts of ambassadors or volunteers serving as champions for youth engagement in digital health.YO.DH reflects a bold shift toward decentralized, peer-driven leadership that values equity, collaboration, and shared ownership. Looking ahead, YO.DH envisions itself as the go-to global platform for young digital health professionals—connecting, creating, and collaborating across borders.Find out more about the project here: https://www.yodh.info/

Effective cold chain equipment (CCE) is the backbone of successful vaccine delivery, but its seamless operation relies on a complex web of “behind-the-scenes” activities. This graphic, produced in collaboration between PATH, JSI, and Village Reach, highlights several crucial activities that are currently being implemented to contribute to robust CCE maintenance systems in multiple countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. While not exhaustive, the activities presented here aim to inspire and inform other countries as we collectively strive to strengthen CCE maintenance globally, ultimately ensuring that lifesaving vaccines reach every person in need.