Zambia like many other countries is leveraging the many opportunities that digital technologies provide to prioritize and improve health service delivery across communities. To help further advance this agenda, the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with WHO, Ministry of Health and the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health hosted a three-day workshop on enhancing digital health maturity in Zambia.  

The workshop aimed to assess the maturity and capacity of the Zambia’s digital health systems, with a focus on identifying key opportunities to implement and scale-up to better active patient outcomes. 

“The technical country support programme is aimed at helping countries enhance their digital health maturity. I am pleased that the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health and the World health Organization are working jointly with the Commonwealth Secretariat to make this programme a reality in Zambia, and many other commonwealth countries. I am sure that the impact this programme will have on health systems in Zambia, and even beyond will be felt in the years to come.” said Professor Vajira Dissanayake, the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health Chairperson.

Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Smart Zambia, an e-government division, and several implementing partners, including the Institute for Health Measurement Southern Africa (IHM-Africa), were among the key digital health stakeholders who attended the in-person meeting in Lusaka.

Director for Information Communication at the Ministry of Health, Mr Andrew Kashoka emphasized the importance of collaboration in enhancing digital health in the country.

“As Zambia, we have prioritized digital innovation, digital skills enhancement and the promotion of digital services as key drivers in the economic development of our country, and so collaborating with partners like WHO and the Commonwealth is critical if we are to achieve this and improve healthcare for our population,” he said. 

In his opening statement, WHO Country Representative, Dr Nathan Bakyaita noted the preliminary works already done and Zambia’s hunger for digital/e-health.

“I believe this workshop will not only enhance Zambia’s ability to use the digital health maturity assessment tool but will also give an opportunity to reflect on how the national digital health strategy is being implemented and help us identify areas of action towards achieving Zambia’s public health goals,” he said.

To develop, implement and evaluate the digital health systems and programmes to sustain and support country health priorities, participants were tasked to align knowledge, skills, and resources by assessing the digital health maturity. 

In her remarks, the Adviser in Health, Social and Policy Development at Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr Janneth Mghamba noted the increasing recognition of digital health to achieving universal health coverage, given its ability to widen access to health services. 

“We are delighted to start this programme in Zambia, leveraging expertise from all entities. We are confident that working together we will formulate strategies, plans, and make investments based on pragmatic phased target maturity states. The scoring is of course critical, but even more important, is how we use this tool to be able to identify key interventions and actions to move to the next maturity level,” she added. 

The meeting featured in-depth sessions on Governance and National Ownership, Health Process Domain Components, Foundation Components - eHealth Infostructure, and Foundation Components - ICT Infrastructure, with the identification of recommendations and next steps to advance digital health maturity levels and support Zambia to achieve its digital health journey as its conclusion.

At the end of the workshop, Zambia received a summary report outlining the benefits, drawbacks, and recommendations for future development. Further, Zambia will have a dedicated Commonwealth Digital Health Fellow to provide online coaching, mentorship, and technical assistance.