What is digital health?

Introduction to digital health

Definition: “The systematic application of information and communications technologies, computer science, and data to support informed decision-making by individuals, the health workforce, and health systems, to strengthen resilience to disease and improve health and wellness.” —World Health Organization¹

Digital health encompasses all the ways digital technology can be used in health with the goal of improving health outcomes, such as extending universal health coverage, improving protection against health emergencies, and enhancing overall health and well-being. The possible use cases and users for digital tools vary widely. Digital health includes applications for patients, health workers, administrators, and policymakers.

It remains to be seen which digital health interventions can have the greatest impact in which contexts. However, technologies like the Internet of Things, virtual care, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, blockchain, and wearable devices have demonstrated potential to improve health outcomes. These tools have the potential to contribute to better diagnoses, treatment decisions, digital therapeutics, clinical trials, self-care, and personalized care while also increasing evidence-based knowledge and skills of health care professionals through mechanisms like remote data collection and information sharing.² Other digital technologies function at the health systems level, facilitating disease surveillance, budgeting and planning, and monitoring and reporting.

There are various ways to think about adopting digital tools in global public health, with important distinctions between digitizing, digitalizing, and digital transformation.³

• Digitization refers to the technical process of converting analog records to digital data.
• Digitalization refers to the integration of digital technologies into health operations.
• Digital transformation refers to a cultural shift that integrates digital technologies and services into health systems.

Classification of digital health

In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Classification of Digital Interventions, Services and Applications in Health, which was updated in 2023.⁴ The objective was to establish a common language for policymakers and practitioners in digital health to facilitate collaboration and promote innovation. The classification scheme is organized around three axes—health system challenges, digital health interventions, and digital applications and services. See Figure 3 for an example of links between the axes.

Health system challenges: This axis enables planners to identify specific health systems bottlenecks, so they can think categorically about an appropriate digital health strategy to address the bottleneck. The challenges are grouped into nine categories (information, availability, quality, acceptability, utilization, efficiency, cost, accountability, equity), each of which includes subcategories.

• For example: A health system might have an availability challenge with an insufficient supply of commodities, or a health system might have a quality challenge with health care providers’ poor adherence to clinical guidelines.

Digital health interventions: This axis enables planners to identify discrete technology functionalities or capabilities to implement to address a health system challenge. These interventions, more than 100 in total, are divided into four groups based on the target audience that needs the solution (i.e., persons, health care providers, health management and support personnel, and data services).

• For example: Health management could receive notifications of stock levels of health commodities during a stockout, or a health care provider could apply a checklist of clinical protocols to help them adhere to guidelines.

Digital applications and services: This axis describes the digital applications and systems that successfully deliver the solutions and functionalities offered by digital health interventions. It includes five use cases (point of service, health system/provider administration, registries and directories, data management services, and surveillance and response).

• For example: A health system can implement a logistics management information system to notify personnel of stock levels, or a provider at the point of service could use a decision support system to pull up a checklist to help them adhere to protocols.

Figure 3: Example of links between axes in the World Health Organization’s Classification of Digital Interventions, Services and Applications in Health

A short history of digital health

Although its origins stretch further back, digital health has taken root and evolved continuously alongside advances in digital technology with some of the first major digital health interventions, like telemedicine, starting to emerge in the 1960s. In 2011, the field achieved a new level of maturity with the WHO’s call to action on eHealth evaluation.⁵ This call emphasized the need for rigorous evaluation of eHealth technologies—defined as the use of information and communication technologies for health⁶—and led to the development of supportive guidelines and frameworks. In the early 2020s, the use of AI and other advanced technologies has significantly increased the number of potential use cases for digital tools, marking a new and continually evolving era in digital health. See Figure 4 for more information.