Addressing Public Governance Challenges in Digital Health: Insights from Country Experiences

O’Brien, N; Hashiguchi, T.C.O; Veerappan, M.; Gizaw, M.

Addressing Public Governance Challenges in Digital Health: Insights from Country Experiences

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Washington, DC: World Bank

Descripción

The report defines digital health governance and explains how governments can develop its different dimensions to strengthen digital transformation in the health sector. It provides an overview of what public governance means in the context of digital health, along with the important enablers and values associated with good governance. It further lays out how different governance dimensions can be developed across phases, with examples from JLN countries. Boxes are used throughout the report to present these country examples. The report structure is as follows: section 1 focuses on explaining digital health governance by looking at definitions of governance, public governance, and what good governance looks like. This section explains key concepts in digital health and why digital health governance is important. It also summarizes the values and enablers of digital health governance. Section 2 unpacks several key dimensions of digital health governance, including regulatory instruments, institutional leadership, governance of human and financial resources, and coordination. Based on JLN country case studies, several examples of good practice in developing these governance dimensions are presented to help readers contextualize what they mean in practice. To provide practical guidance, Section 3 describes how dimensions of digital health governance can be implemented across a three-phase cycle: strategic and operational planning, implementation, and evaluation. It further outlines specific activities under each phase and describes the complexities that can arise across the cycle. Based on experiences shared by JLN countries, section 4 describes in detail how the key dimensions of digital health governance can change over time. This section goes on to outline implementation challenges over time, as shared by JLN countries, and lessons from governance practices in other sectors. The report closes with a high-level conclusion summarizing the key takeaways. Separate country examples provide detailed information on digital health governance over time in various JLN member countries.