Description of Session
After adopting federalism in 2015, Nepal established 753 autonomous local government units (urban and rural municipalities) led by locally elected leaders. For these municipalities, community health is often a conflicting priority with many political leaders showing a preference for investing in infrastructure projects, such as roads and energy, that produce quick and visible results to their political constituencies (https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/download/22856/19497). When they do invest in health, they typically opt for activities that generate immediate political publicity such as providing health subsidies, as compared to longer-term initiatives that have the potential to strengthen health systems. However, for many political leaders, deploying modern technologies in the public sphere is a politically attractive proposition, and our experience from Nepal shows the willingness of the politicians to adopt digital technologies in health. Strengthening public services and governance through digital technologies is a trending concept among the politicians in Nepal, and many have embraced mHealth tools, such as those developed by Medic Mobile, that empower community health workers (CHWs). For the local political leaders, the concept of CHWs using mobile technologies to provide better health care to their constituencies can be seen as politically attractive and as an example of health investment that builds political capital. Medic Mobile's tools allow political leaders and municipal health officials to access performance dashboards, which provide a snapshot of the health status of their respective constituencies. The tools enable them to monitor the performance of health workers and better plan additional community health interventions. As Medic's tools bring community health issues to the forefront, and on to the radar of the political leaders, the tools support to establish community health issues as prominent political agenda of the local governments and make the politicians more cognizant on public health — thereby creating a sustained positive impact on people’s health.
