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Designing Digital Health Tools for the Last Mile: Lessons for Maximizing Connectivity, Usability and Trust
Digital health has become a promising approach for improving healthcare access in under-resourced communities. But as Kaumudi Tiwari at Zonka Feedback explains, bringing healthcare to the “last mile” isn’t just about overcoming the challenges of physical distance. It’s about navigating poor network coverage, language mismatches, lack of trust in digital systems, and tools that don’t align with local workflows or realities. She shares four critical lessons from digital health deployments in Africa and Asia that underscore why some digital health tools succeed in the last mile, while others stall.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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It’s Time to Rethink Universal Health Coverage in Africa: Introducing ‘Access-as-a-Service’
As global health funding contracts, traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare delivery models are becoming financially and operationally unsustainable, in Africa and across low- and middle-income countries. Joanne Peter at Jhpiego and Rob Beyer at Villgro Africa argue that this raises the need for innovative new pathways toward universal health coverage. They propose one such approach, developed through their work at the HealthTech Hub Africa: "Access-as-a-Service," a model that combines in-person care options with first-line healthcare provided through digital channels.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Bringing African Knowledge into the Probiotic Industry: The Untapped Goldmine in Nigeria’s Fermented Foods
As the health benefits of fermented, probiotic foods have become more widely known, they’ve driven a global surge of interest in foods like kimchi, miso and sauerkraut. But according to Oluwadara Alegbeleye, a microbiologist who researches food safety and sustainable food systems, Nigeria’s fermented foods have yet to transition from local staples to globally recognized probiotic solutions. She argues that this has cost Nigeria not only international recognition, but a valuable business opportunity, and explains how the country's fermented food market could evolve into a robust and viable industry.
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- Health Care
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Demystifying Impact Measurement and Management Using a Systems Lens: Four Jargon-Free Webinars from Glocal Evaluation Week 2025
Want to start collecting relevant impact data on your business — or improve your existing impact measurement and management (IMM) practices? Applying a systems lens to these efforts can offer great value, and though the concept of systems thinking can seem intimidating, it’s actually quite straightforward. The William Davidson Institute will host four free public webinars June 2-5, which will explain core principles of IMM using a systems lens. Presented in jargon-free terms, the webinars will discuss real-world applications for businesses and other organizations working in areas ranging from healthcare and energy to entrepreneurship and empowerment.
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- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Unlocking the Investment Potential of Healthcare in Emerging Markets: How New Technologies, Platform Models and Financing Options are Driving Growth
There is a growing need for new sources of healthcare funding in emerging markets: For instance, Africa accounts for around 2% of global health expenditure — despite representing over 18% of the world’s population and over 20% of the global disease burden. As investor Temi Marcella argues, this disparity presents unique opportunities for investors seeking both profit and impact. She explores how investors can unlock the full potential of healthcare investments in these markets by supporting businesses’ efforts to leverage digital health ecosystems, platform strategies and innovative financing solutions.
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- Finance, Health Care, Investing, Technology
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A Milestone in the Modernization of Indian Healthcare: How Digital Integration is Transforming the Country’s Health System
India's Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched in 2021, is working to create a national digital health ecosystem by leveraging the country’s existing IT infrastructure and technologies. As Nivedita Mishra and Rashika Anand at Sambodhi Research and Communications explain, the mission represents a significant step toward modernizing India’s healthcare system. They explore ABDM's work from a health systems perspective, highlighting the existing gaps and wider systemic challenges it's addressing, and discussing the strategies it's using to foster a resilient digital health ecosystem that supports universal health coverage.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Africa’s Startups Need Patient Capital: Could the African Diaspora Help Provide it?
African startup funding amounts to a tiny fraction of global venture capital (VC), and these investments are often concentrated on sectors like fintech and e-commerce. As a result, as Kristin H. Wilson at Innovate Africa Fund argues, African founders often lack the capital and incentive to tackle the continent’s biggest development challenges. She proposes a new approach to funding innovative African-made solutions to these issues — one that leverages the capital and entrepreneurial expertise of the African diaspora.
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- Health Care, Investing
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NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2024: Congratulations to the Three Winners
NextBillion's “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been a yearly tradition since 2012. The contest highlights 12 of our most-read articles from the past year and gives readers the opportunity to vote for their favorites. Here are our three Most Influential Articles of 2024, as selected by our readers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing, Technology
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