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Call to Action: Health for All through Responsible Digital Payments

© The Global Fund/Olympia de Maismont
Health for All through Responsible Digital Payments

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Despite global technological advancements, healthcare costs continue to push millions into extreme poverty every year.

People living on low-income, in particular, face significant financial barriers to healthcare access. Every year, about 100 million of them fall into poverty due to health-related shocks. Governments are not able to support their citizens’ health needs sufficiently.

Digital payments can serve as a powerful catalyst for improving access to essential health and financial services, particularly for women. When deployed responsibly, digital payments can strengthen health system outcomes and financing, by reducing inefficiencies and leakages, generating cost savings, and enabling innovation

The World Health Organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the United Nations Better Than Cash Alliance call on governments, health organizations, the private sector, and other stakeholders to accelerate the responsible digitization of payments and integrate them into health systems at all levels.

© Better Than Cash Alliance
© Better Than Cash Alliance

This call to action report provides strategic recommendations for all stakeholders to achieve “Health for All” through responsible payments digitization, and highlights successful digital payment initiatives from Alliance members Senegal, WHO and the Global Fund, in a brief set of interesting case studies:

  • In Senegal, digital registration for health insurance and related cost savings led to 2.8 million new enrollments, with 80% being women.
  • WHO’s Digital Finance Team in Africa sped up polio campaign payments to around 2 million health workers across 22 African countries, enhancing health worker retention and reducing absenteeism.
  • The Global Fund pushed for digital payments in Burkina Faso, carrying out 630,000 mobile money transactions from 2021 to 2023, improving documentation, traceability, and reliability. The Global Fund now mandates responsible digital payments in its new grant guidelines.

Further health system stakeholders are called on to join this Call to Action,and accelerate the transition to responsible digital payments in the health sector, to improve people’s access to healthcare, health outcomes, and health system financing opportunities.

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