Strengthening Health System Resilience through Telehealth and Data Innovations: What We’ve Learned from COVIDaction Resilient Health Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for strong and resilient health systems that can respond to emerging crises, while maintaining essential health services and quality of care. Indeed, as the World Health Organisation has found, over 90% of countries surveyed experienced some disruption to essential health services, as a result of the pandemic. This paper seeks to share key principles around how telehealth and data innovations can be used to support more resilient health systems. Findings are based on the learnings of the COVIDaction Resilient Health Systems (RHS) program, which tested a new way of rapidly supporting innovators to strengthen health systems, in response to the pandemic. Our findings have demonstrated that unlocking resilience through innovation is a collective effort. Consequently, we hope that the findings here are of interest to a range of actors operating within health ecosystems, including innovators, policymakers and funders of health innovation.

A Child Health Worker conducts a breath count test using the Smarthealth app to assess a sick child for pneumonia
(Photo Credit: Living Goods)