Description of Session
The Female Community Health Volunteers program in Nepal was introduced in the late 1980s. Over time, their roles have evolved to agents bridging the gap between health facilities and the community. Since 2012, Medic Mobile, a global non-profit technology organization, has been empowering these frontline health workers with digital tools to better coordinate their work for equitable and safe motherhood. The recent federalization that paved the way for the decentralized allocation of economic resources has allowed local governments to have more control over the financing of services including health. Despite their autonomy, local governments lack financial as well as technical expertise. Realizing these limitations, Medic Mobile’s strategy in Nepal has evolved with time to provide support to the local governments to help them recognize their health needs and prioritize maternal and child health. By providing tailored, free and open-source tools, we have not only supported those last-mile health workers but also the local governments to plan their health activities using data generated by the system, an important by-product of our tool. Stepping away from a conventional project-based approach to a more longer-term program based-partnership requires a certain level of stakeholder ownership and financial negotiation. In this presentation, we will be showcasing how we have initiated and maintained partnerships and deployment, gained the confidence of various stakeholders, and established strategies to ensure government ownership of the program. We will share valuable insights especially into institutional strategies for the financial sustainability of digital health in Nepal; where were are now and what we aim to achieve. These insights and lessons presented will enable policymakers, digital health practitioners and others to learn from Medic Mobile’s experiences, and adapt these learnings for their own contexts as they explore the financing of national scale of digital health programs.
