Rwanda and other low and middle-income countries need up to $ 4.1 billion to digitalise their healthcare systems, according to a costing study hinted at during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that is taking place in Kigali from Tuesday, October 17 through Thursday, October 19.

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Digitalisation of the health sector is one of the topics that are high on the meeting’s agenda, as experts claim that it is becoming more important in the provision of such services in the face of increasing demands to deliver new, better, and seamless healthcare that is affordable to people.

Technology is viewed as a way of strengthening health systems, improving health financing and public health, and increasing reach for underserved populations.

Speaking during a panel on Wednesday, October 18, Tom Oluoch, a health scientist at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said what will be required to fund digitalisation of health systems in low and medium-income countries is now about $ 4.1 billion, noting the portion of the investment will vary from country to country "depending on the maturity of the systems and level of investment” they have made so far.

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Digital healthcare requires investment in human skills as well as infrastructure like the internet and electricity, hardware and software I.T resources, and so on.

Marelize Gorgens, the Lead for World Bank’s Digital Health Flagship Program, talked about the importance of prioritisation of digital health interventions that respond to people’s health needs and are evidence-based.

Garrett Mehl, the Head of the Digital Health Technology Unit at the Department of Digital Health and Innovations at the World Health Organisation (WHO), praised digital health as a way to enable systems to connect to one another and ensure that those systems are augmenting, strengthening and really adding value to the overall objectives of the health system.

"It enables those healthcare providers who are trying to ensure that they are utilising the most up-to-date care protocols, to have access to those as they provide care so that they make sure that they&039;re either referring or providing the right management or the right treatment,” he added.

"It also ensures that the right data is being collected, is shared for the right purposes and that decision makers are able to utilise the information to plan, to assess performance and the financial gaps,” he added.

Muhammed Semakula, the Head of Planning, Strategic Information, and Health Financing at the Ministry of Health, said digitalisation of healthcare is a priority for the government of Rwanda, and good investment has been made in putting in place enablers like the internet and electricity.

He added that the government has also invested in digital capacity-building for the youth because they drive the adoption of new technologies.