Global Digital Health Index Expands Platform for Multilingual Access
The Global Digital Health Monitor (GDHM, formerly titled the Global Digital Health Index, an interactive digital resource that tracks, monitors, and evaluates the use of digital technology for health across countries — is now available in 4 additional languages: Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
GDHM currently contains critical data on the status of digital health ecosystems in 23 participating countries across 6 regions. A primary aim of the Monitor is to have as many countries throughout the world as possible participate and benefit from the ability to benchmark themselves against a global digital health average and learn from other countries. By expanding the GDHI platform into a multilingual resource, non-English speaking countries will be empowered to participate in digital health data sharing and self-evaluation.
“While the majority of websites are in English, the majority of the world’s population does not speak English,” said Dr. Patricia Mechael, co-founder and policy lead at HealthEnabled, and one of the partners facilitating the development of the GDHI. “To begin to improve accessibility to the Index, we are excited to make it available in Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. We invite countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Americas to contribute to a better understanding of the state of digital health globally and to set a baseline for their own digital health maturity, share their resources, and track progress over time for the benefit of the health of their people and the broader field.”
The expansion of the GDHI into a multi-language platform was made possible through support from the International Development Research Centre and Johnson and Johnson.
The Global Digital Health Monitor officially launched in 2018, and released its inaugural State of Digital Health report in April 2019. The report provides the first-ever snapshot of digital health ecosystems throughout the world, and lays the foundation for better informed and more coordinated investments in digital health. The GDHM issued a call to action to governments and health practitioners worldwide through this report, urging them to commit to improving health systems through expanding access to high quality digital health data.
The GDHM is incubated by the Global Development Incubator, with digital health technical leadership and facilitation provided by HealthEnabled in collaboration with Dalberg Design Impact Group (DIG), ThoughtWorks, and representatives from 20+ country governments and 50+ international agencies and organizations.
Countries looking to learn more about their digital health maturity are encouraged to reach out to info@digitalhealthmonitor.org to contribute data.