LocationsDigital and AI can help people live healthier lives.
Here’s how.
For people facing health challenges, navigating medical systems can add another layer of distress. But digitalization is helping rewrite that story.
For billions of people around the world, access to quality health care is not a given. Distance from facilities, overstretched health workers, and the challenge of getting diagnostics, medicines and vaccines to the right place at the right time often stand between people and the care they need. Even in places with better resourced health systems, long wait times, lost paperwork, shortages and rushed appointments too often are the norm.
As in many other sectors, digital tools and AI are redefining interactions between service providers, patients and governments. Digitalization isn’t just adding technology to health care; it is fundamentally changing how care is delivered, accessed and experienced across the globe. From virtual consultations to data sharing and the use of AI in clinical decision making and in research and development, the shift stands to make health care faster, smarter and more effective. If done right, it has immense potential to advance health equity.
Here’s how UNDP works with countries and partners to advance the digital revolution in health care.
Telemedicine: Digital house calls
One of the most powerful impacts of digitalization and AI is how it removes geographic and other barriers to accessing care. Depending on where you live, health care availability can vary greatly. But digital platforms and AI are closing the gaps, including by allowing local health workers to consult with specialists far away and better serve patients.
Telemedicine works by using video calls, mobile apps and online platforms to connect patients with services and providers in real time and across geographies. Whether they live in a bustling city or a remote village, patients can access the care they need without having to leave home or their community. This is especially advantageous for older persons and those with limited mobility. While there is significant variation from country to country, telehealth adoption has surged globally, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and increasingly it is being paired with other innovations and solutions.
To bridge the health care gap in Somalia, UNDP has launched a telemedicine service in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank, East Africa University Hospital, Ain Shams University and Tilmaame Community Center. The platform enables remote consultation with specialists and allows local health workers to record and upload patient data for doctors to review asynchronously.
Powered by CAD4TB (Computer-Aided Detection for Tuberculosis) AI software, ultra-portable X-ray units are expanding access to specialized care in remote areas of Turkmenistan. With support from the Global Fund, this technology enables rapid, accurate screening that can flag potential cases for further action.
In Turkmenistan, UNDP is combining digitalization and portability to overcome geographic and human resource limitations and expand specialist health services to remote areas. With support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, hospitals across the country have been equipped with portable X-ray units with AI software that can analyse X-ray images and, within seconds, detect potential TB cases.
Digital for health
- Expand coverage in underserved areas
- Eliminate distance as a barrier to care
- Reduce travel costs and waiting times
- Enable faster access to specialists
Bottom line: With digitalization, health care is no longer tied to place. Increasingly, patients and medical professionals can access support from almost anywhere with connectivity.
Stronger data, better care
Digitalization has brought major shifts in how medical information is collected, stored and used. Digital records replace paper files, making data more reliable and accessible for managing patient health and medical supply chains. Electronic health records allow health care providers to easily access a patient’s medical history. This leads to better-informed decisions, potentially fewer errors and improved quality and continuity of care. Digital monitoring devices can also track vital signs in real time, allowing for quick detection of potential health problems.
Indonesia has launched SMILE, a digital monitoring platform that allows health workers to see medicine stock levels and send resupply requests immediately when stocks run low. This means less paperwork piling up and more predictability for patients like Toni, an incarcerated teen who depends on regular medicine delivery to manage HIV. SMILE was developed through a collaboration between the Ministry of Health, UNDP, GAVI, the Global Fund, the Access and Delivery Partnership, and the Government of Japan. By March 2026, the platform had tracked the delivery of 210 million ARV drugs, 81 million TB medicines, 33 million anti-malarials and 39 million testing kits across Indonesia.
Toni (pseudonym), 18, received HIV care at the Juvenile Correctional Facility in Aceh Besar, where consistent delivery of antiretroviral medicines is secured through the SMILE digital health platform.
Digital for health
- Instant access to patient records
- Support data-driven, evidence-based decisions
- Reduce duplication of tests and procedures
- Minimize human error from manual recordkeeping
Bottom line: Digitalization makes patient records readily available and enhances continuity and quality of care.
From treating illness to preventing it
Traditionally, health care has been reactive: you get sick, then you seek treatment. Digitalization and AI solutions can help shift attention towards prediction and prevention and enhance public health responses. With the massive volume of data generated and investments in early warning systems, advanced analytics and AI can identify patterns and risk factors in a community, to tailor support and advance prevention and well-being.
As part of its campaign to eliminate malaria, Haiti’s National Malaria Control Programme set a goal to deliver nearly 1 million protective bed nets to at-risk households in 2022. They focused on homes with pregnant women or children under five years old, populations that face the highest chances of severe illness due to malaria. Distribution managers used digital tools to capture location data and ensure bed nets reached the people who needed them.
Haiti combines low- and high-tech solutions in its campaign to eliminate malaria. Health workers rent donkeys to reach some of the most remote areas, while distribution managers use digital tools to capture location data and ensure life-saving bed nets reach those who need them.
In Chad, UNDP has partnered with the Ministry of Health to scale up a digital health solution to guide the mass distribution of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets to combat malaria across the country. This enabled the Ministry to deliver over 9.4 million bed nets to 350,000 households.
Digital for health
- Identify early warning signs of disease outbreaks
- Detect emerging health threats before they become widespread
- Inform targeted preventive interventions for at-risk communities
- Improve efficient use of public resources and reduce costs long term
Bottom line: Prevention not only reduces strain on health care systems but also improves population health and overall quality of life.
Medicine without borders
During COVID-19, doctors and scientists worldwide shared information in real time, accelerating innovation and pandemic response. This was made possible in part through secure digital platforms that allow health professionals to instantly share clinical data, diagnostic and treatment strategies. Beyond global health emergencies, digitalization breaks down geographic barriers, enabling collaboration across borders.
In its drive to better serve patients through smart health systems, Zambia is getting a big assist from India. The partnership allows Zambia to benefit from India’s extensive experience with digital and AI-powered vaccine logistics platforms as it builds its own digital public infrastructure for health, with emphasis on improving medicines traceability and supply chain management.
Zambia, with support from the Government of India and UNDP, is advancing digital public infrastructure for health, strengthening medicines traceability and supply chain management through an adapted eVIN system.
Digital for health
- Facilitate global knowledge sharing
- Support remote care during lockdowns
- Improve communication between governments and citizens
- Enhance coordination of health care resources
Bottom line: Digital tools enable cross-border collaboration, essential in an increasingly interconnected world, where health crises can spread quickly.
Systems change for equity and efficiency
Together UNDP and countries are leveraging digital and AI to build systems for health that are more efficient and more equitable. Digitalized medical supply chains streamline procurement, while AI-powered tools and electronic health records can reduce costs by automating administrative tasks and preventing duplication. For people living in remote and underserved areas, telemedicine reduces the need for costly, non-essential travel to hospitals. With effective digital strategies that reduce the digital divide, governments can optimize health care budgets, directing resources towards priority needs and populations, while expanding coverage overall.
To promote efficiency and innovation in the sector, the Dominican Republic has launched a Digital Health Strategy that aims to modernize and streamline health systems while expanding access to services. In Mauritius, UNDP and the Ministry of Health and Wellness are collaborating to develop a national roadmap for digital health transformation to replace paper-based processes with a modern and integrated eHealth system and improve the quality of care. And because digitalization has the greatest impact when it is well thought out and integrated into health systems, preparing for digital transformation is a key component of UNDP’s work to rehabilitate hospitals in Syria, with funding from the Government of Germany.
Digital for health
- Minimize paperwork and manual errors
- Speed up service delivery and expand access
- Lower operational costs
Bottom line: Digitalization enhances health system capabilities to deliver services in a cost-effective manner and improve quality of care.
Patients at the centre
Digital and AI tools are game changers as countries seek to develop health care models that are more accessible, efficient, collaborative and more focused on prevention. While the potential benefits are undeniable, challenges like data privacy, the digital divide and unequal access must be addressed so that everyone benefits.
The 2025 Human Development Report found that without deliberate and inclusive policy choices, digital and AI risk widening inequalities both within and between countries. This warning holds true for the health sector, where lack of infrastructure and data gaps can lead to further exclusion of vulnerable communities.
New tools and technologies will keep arriving. But the digital and AI revolution will bring positive transformation only if access is equitable and people are placed at the centre of health systems. Rather than distracting from the ultimate purpose of health care, digital and AI tools must be deployed with one goal in mind: helping people live better lives.
