Digital Health: �Planning National Systems
Course Overview & Impact
July 2024
Introductions
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
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Introductions
Ariel Frankel
Senior Director of
Public Health
Merrick Schaefer
Director: Center for Innovation and Impact, USAID
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
About TechChange
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Brief History of DH:PNS
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
This growth in the adoption of siloed digital health interventions has led to challenges that impact the health system and produce suboptimal health outcomes
What is the problem with the current paradigm in digital health?
Many governments are not in a place to coordinate these different digital health interventions and actors
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
It requires strengthening the capacity of national planners to create these structures and a plan to organize country stakeholders and digital health interventions around a common strategy, which will ultimately support the strengthening of the health system.
How to shift the paradigm with a strong digital health national strategy & governance structure
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
WHO and other partners, including USAID, identified this need, and worked towards developing a course for national planners accordingly.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Overview of DH:PNS
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Target Audience
Primary: mid-level ministry officials who serve as national planners of digital health
Secondary: other national planners of and investors and implementers in global digital health systems
(e.g. funders, multilateral organizations, etc.)
(e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Finance)
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Develop a holistic, enterprise planning approach to digital health.
Demonstrate a range of technical skills related to digital health systems strengthening, including: landscaping the enabling environment, refining a digital health strategy, and structuring partnerships to enable implementation of a national digital health enterprise.
Utilize relevant WHO and ITU toolkits and Global Goods applications to support implementation of digital health activities.
Define and critique digital health trade-offs among investments and activities.
Design a plan to support a robust digital health enterprise architecture that is scalable, sustainable, and interoperable.
Develop the foundation for self-efficacy and leadership skills to manage and advocate for an enterprise planning approach aligned with specific health challenges and opportunities in-country.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course �Objectives
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
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DIGITAL HEALTH
INTERVENTION
IMPLEMENTATION
Course Modules
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Lecture-based
Activity-based
50%
50%
50%
50%
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
15
Fictional case study threaded throughout the material and activities to apply all course concepts to one health journey.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Participant Presentation Session or
Final Group Project
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course formats
Content: total of 10 modules that will be completed 1 module per week
Time Commitment: 3-4 hours per week for 10 weeks, plus 1 orientation week and 1 final project week
Learners will work through modules with a cohort,
Completing knowledge checks, individual activities,
and videos on their own time and participating in live
Activities with their cohort
Live group activity sessions will be held each week
(approximately 1-1.5 hrs per session)
Final project based on weekly group assignments
required for course completion
Certificate issued upon successful completion
of Final Project, self-paced learning, and live group activity attendance
Blended
Content: total of 10 modules and one Participant Presentation Session; 3 modules completed per week
Time Commitment: 10 hours per week for 3 weeks, plus 1 kickoff week
Learners will walk through modules with a cohort and a trained team of facilitators and subject matter experts who will deliver the entire course synchronously and live
Live group activity sessions held 3x per week (3 hrs per session)
Certificate issued based on attendance and participation in live sessions, and completion or Participant Presentation
Max of 25 learners per cohort
Synchronous
Participant presentation session to share out your own digital health experiences
Max of 100 learners per cohort
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Offered in four languages
SPANISH
PORTUGUESE
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
ENGLISH
FRENCH
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
All materials are open source and available with creative commons licensing, and now a content Global Good!
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
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Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course Adaptations
5 known adaptations leveraging DH:PNS source files to deliver digital health trainings
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course Citation
“This curriculum has been adapted from the Digital Health: Planning National Systems course developed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Digital Square, and TechChange, based on content compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.”
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
The DH:PNS Training of Trainers!
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course Stats
2020-2024
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
25 Course Deliveries*
12 virtual
synchronous
12 virtual blended
*only includes deliveries run officially w/ TechChange, and does not include stats from adapted deliveries or deliveries led by ToT graduates (still too soon for that)
1 in-person
synchronous
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
470+
1000+
course �graduates �worldwide
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Community of Practice �for Alumni Network
Nearly 200 alumni in the CoP and counting!
A virtual networking space whereby course alums can connect and support one another through the exchange of knowledge, lessons learned and experiences related to applying course concepts in their work when planning national digital health systems.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course Impact
2020-2022
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Course Theory of Change
Impact
An increased number of professionals who influence national health systems in low to middle income countries have the skills, resources, and network to maximize the potential of digital health to improve health outcomes
Output�Participants rate themselves as having more knowledge and understanding of foundational digital health course topics
Output�Participants report that they have the skills needed to improve their planning of national digital �health systems
Output�Participants report that they have the self-efficacy needed to improve their planning of national digital health systems
Output�Participants share learning and access peer to peer support on digital health challenges
Outcome�Compliance with the enterprise planning approach when planning and influencing national digital health systems
Outcome�Increased advocacy for the enterprise planning approach and its associated frameworks at the national level
Outcome�Expanded network of professionals that are supporting each other to build and strengthen national digital health systems
Activity�Foundational digital health content training with a focus on the enterprise planning approach
Activity�Collaborative group activities to practice discrete course concepts in a simulated country environment following each module
Activity�Group final project to synthesize and apply course content to a 'real-world' context
Activity�Virtual learning networks with course alumni and digital health SMEs
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Monitoring & Evaluation Sources to Measure Impact
Monitoring
Evaluation
*note: the post-course survey was implemented in its final form beginning at the end of 2021, and revised once more in 2022. The 2023 Post-course data has not yet been integrated in these slides.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Let’s review the measurable participant outputs and outcomes of the course!
Output
Output�
Output�
Output�
Activity�Virtual learning networks with course alumni and digital health SMEs
Activity�Group final project to synthesize and apply course content to a 'real-world' context
Activity�Collaborative group activities to practice discrete course concepts in a simulated country environment following each module
Activity�Foundational digital health content training with a focus on the enterprise planning approach
Impact
An increased number of professionals who influence national health systems in low to middle income countries have the skills, resources, and network to maximize the potential of digital health to improve health outcomes
Outcome�
Outcome�
Outcome�
KNOWLEDGE
SELF-EFFICACY
PEER SUPPORT
SKILLS
COMPLIANCE WITH ENTERPRISE PLANNING APPROACH
INCREASED ADVOCACY
EXPAND NETWORK
92%
of total respondents (390 of 420) report being more knowledgeable of and confident in applying course concepts
Immediately after the course…
Course Outputs & Outcomes [2021-2022]
97%
70%
of total respondents (410 of 420) report that all or most material that was taught is relevant for doing their job well
of total respondents (292 of 420) report that all six course learning objectives were achieved
92%
of total respondents (387 of 420) report that half or more the material covered in the course was new to them
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
But we wanted to go even deeper to confirm that our Theory of Change was being met, so we conducted
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
100%
(All 48 respondents) have applied more than half of the digital health course concepts in their work
Six months out of the course…
Course Outputs & Outcomes [2021-2022]
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
100%
(All 48 respondents) indicated that they have used their digital health knowledge to support their colleagues who did not take the course at least once
Note: a Community of Practice launched in March 2023 that will further enable this outcome to be achieved
Course Outputs & Outcomes [2021-2022]
Six months out of the course…
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
How can we interpret the success of our outputs and outcomes?
Post-course (n=390/420) and post-6 months (n=48/48), vast majority of participants ‘remember’ and ‘understand’ core course concepts.
Post-6 months, all surveyed (n=48/48) have successfully achieved the third level of learning: ‘apply’.
Post-6 months, a few interviewed (n=3/11) were able to ‘analyze’, ‘evaluate’ and ‘create’ – the top three levels of learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Reference: https://bloomstaxonomy.net/
Bloom’s �Taxonomy
Produce new or �original work
Justify a stand �or decision
Draw connections �among ideas
Use information in �new situations
Explain ideas �or concepts
Recall facts and basic concepts
CREATE
EVALUATE
ANALYZE
APPLY
UNDERSTAND
REMEMBER
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
A capacity builder/trainer: someone who someone who identifies opportunities and creates spaces to share knowledge and train others on their team about digital health
A technical consultant: someone who advises their teams on best practices in digital health and is turned to for technical support and suggestions
An advocate: �someone who influences key stakeholders – whether it be decision makers in the gov or funders / donors - to adopt the enterprise planning approach
Course alumni generally adopted three roles when applying course material in their work as:
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Dilip Hensman
Technical Officer for Health Information Systems,
WHO Lao PDR Country Office
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Case Study 1: WHO Regional Officer
A year after participating in the course, Dilip achieved the goal he set out to accomplish when enrolling in the course: strategically supporting the development and finalization of Lao PDR’s five-year digital health national strategy using an enterprise planning approach. The course played a large role in making this achievement possible.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
Case Study 2: National Medical Association & Creative Commons
Digital Health: Planning National Systems
We are on our way to achieving this impact!
Impact
An increased number of professionals who influence national health systems in low to middle income countries have the skills, resources, and network to maximize the potential of digital health to improve health outcomes
Output�Participants rate themselves as having more knowledge and understanding of foundational digital health course topics
Output�Participants report that they have the skills needed to improve their planning of national digital �health systems
Output�Participants report that they have the self-efficacy needed to improve their planning of national digital health systems
Output�Participants share learning and access peer to peer support on digital health challenges
Activity�Foundational digital health content training with a focus on the enterprise planning approach
Activity�Collaborative group activities to practice discrete course concepts in a simulated country environment following each module
Activity�Group final project to synthesize and apply course content to a 'real-world' context
Activity�Virtual learning networks with course alumni and digital health SMEs
Outcome�Compliance with the enterprise planning approach when planning and influencing national digital health systems
Outcome�Increased advocacy for the enterprise planning approach and its associated frameworks at the national level
Outcome�Expanded network of professionals that are supporting each other to build and strengthen national digital health systems
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Acknowledgements
TechChange is funded by Digital Square, a PATH-led initiative funded and designed by the United States Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a consortium of other investors, in support of the Digital Health: Planning National Systems Course.
Digital Health: Planning National Systems