In September, member states came together in New York for the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and unanimously adopted the Political Declaration on UHC. In the declaration, heads of state committed to ensuring UHC for their population so all people can access quality health care without facing financial hardship. Now, three months later on UHC Day, we must reflect on how we can implement the Political Declaration and keep the promise made in New York to deliver equitable health systems that leave no one behind.

One way we can keep the promise is by investing and adopting digital health tools. UHC will not be reached only with the resources⁠—both financial and human⁠—that we have now. Innovation is needed to create efficiencies to maximize resources and reach the millions of people that are currently without care. I believe that digital health will not just help achieve UHC, it is necessary to achieve UHC in its totality.

Decision-makers are also seeing the inevitable need for digital health tools to serve their communities far and wide. In Isiolo County, one of Kenya’s “UHC counties,” the local government decided to go paperless in delivering community health. A rural county, many residents of Isiolo reside far away from health centers.  Working in partnership with the country governments, Living Goods is providing robust digital technology to 720 government CHWs to deliver primary care to more than 40,000 households across Isiolo, Merti, and Garbatulla sub-counties. The initiative will also vastly increase CHW coverage for residents in Isiolo County while supporting improved reporting on health and UHC.