In many low- and middle-income countries, national digital health teams face a familiar reality: fragmented systems, overlapping applications and growing pressure to support health workers with reliable, actionable data.
Addressing these systemic challenges requires more than technology adoption; it demands strategic leadership, coordinated governance and a long-term national vision. To accelerate progress, the WHO Academy, in collaboration with the International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF), delivered a 12-week Digital Health: Planning for National Systems course, bringing together participants from across French-speaking countries in the African and the Eastern Mediterranean regions.
To accelerate this shift from fragmented tools to integrated national systems, the programme provided not only technical knowledge but also a structured pathway for countries to rethink their digital health foundations. With a 91% satisfaction rate, the training helped countries begin transforming their digital health ecosystems through deeper understanding, collaborative learning and practical application.
Local leadership, shared learning
The diversity of participating countries enriched the exchange, ensuring that lessons were tested against varied institutional, technical and political realities. Sixty digital health leaders from 16 French-speaking countries joined the course: Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, the Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Togo and Tunisia, each bringing the distinct realities of their national health systems. Across these countries, digital health solutions have multiplied, often developed for specific diseases or programmes.
As Kossi Anani, a data scientist and participant from Togo, explained: "We use one tracker for tuberculosis, another for HIV, one for vaccination and another for seasonal malaria chemoprevention. Without a more integrated approach, we risk accumulating isolated and non-interoperable tools."
For others, the challenge was not only fragmentation but misalignment with health priorities. “The course responds in a relevant and practical way to the digital health challenges in my country by providing a strategic vision, useful tools and a structured approach,” said Boualem Bendjedia, ICT Assistant, WHO Algeria.
These voices reflect a shared understanding that strong digital health systems require coordinated planning, clear governance and solutions rooted in national realities.
Turning insights into change
To translate shared reflections into practical capacity-strengthening, the course combined structured learning with applied national projects. Over 12 weeks, the cohort completed 12 hours of self-paced learning, 12 live sessions focused on discussion, peer exchange and group work and a final country-focused project that applied course concepts to real priorities.
The curriculum covered the foundations of digital transformation, including health systems, national strategy development, enterprise architecture, governance, costing, procurement, digital financial services and future trends.
Learners emphasized how the course helped make complex concepts accessible and immediately applicable. Kossi noted that the training showed how to transition from multiple standalone applications to integrated, sustainable and interoperable national platforms.
Boualem highlighted how the approach helped address governance gaps: “It strengthened awareness of the need to work in a structured and systematic way and to involve stakeholders from the outset to ensure ownership and sustainability.”
Throughout the programme, participants began applying new skills to national initiatives ranging from telemedicine and unique patient identifiers to real-time data platforms.
In Togo, for example, Kossi described how the training helped identify a gap in a new data visualization project: “The initiative is promising, but the operational system for reporting data was not defined. Thanks to the course, I was able to highlight this gap and help redirect efforts before moving forward.”
Boualem described the value of seeing digital health through a broader strategic lens: “The final project helped me understand the connection between national health strategy, digital transformation and system resilience. It profoundly changed the way I now approach digital health initiatives.”
Together, these experiences reveal a critical insight: digital transformation succeeds when national actors move from fragmented implementation to deliberate, system-wide strategy.
Building sustainable capacities
In contexts where digital expansion often outpaces system integration, building strategic capacity is not optional; it is foundational to resilient health systems.
A core focus of the programme was helping countries assess their digital health-enabling environment, from human resources and infrastructure to regulation, governance and cybersecurity. With these assessments, countries can better guide investments towards interoperable, sustainable solutions rather than isolated tools.
By strengthening leadership and strategic planning, the programme supports long-term national stewardship and digital sovereignty, critical pillars for resilient health systems.
This training is part of a broader effort by the WHO Academy to ensure learning is accessible, context-specific and aligned with local needs. WHO’s Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI Department, in collaboration with the Academy, will continue expanding access to this programme and strengthening peer networks, ensuring more countries have the tools and confidence to drive their digital transformation journeys.