Digital Health
Digital health provides opportunities for people who avoid HIV and SRH services out of stigma and discrimination. Together with partners, we’ve built multiple digital health solutions that really touch upon the need for accessibility, anonymity, and user-friendliness of SRHR/HIV information and services
Digital Health
Digital health provides opportunities for people who avoid HIV and SRH services out of stigma and discrimination. Together with partners, we’ve built multiple digital health solutions that really touch upon the need for accessibility, anonymity, and user-friendliness of SRHR/HIV information and services
Why people have difficulties taking care of their health
Many people have no or limited access to health information and services, including sexual and reproductive health and HIV. Sex workers and LGBT people are being criminalised and they face stigma, violence and human rights violations, which impedes access to health services. Young people avoid services for not being youth friendly and the fear of judgmental staff. The healthcare system is often overburdened, lacks privacy, or information and services are of poor quality. The ongoing COVID pandemic also restricts young people's access to health care. Digital health solutions solve many of these challenges.
Digital health & HIV response
Digital health is increasingly being seen as an essential factor to ending AIDS as a public health threat. For example, mobile technology is helping people affected by HIV in remote areas access information about HIV prevention or adhere to treatment. Electronic health records are strengthening the HIV care cascade by providing accurate and timely patient information. Social media is bringing people affected by HIV together to share information and campaign for their rights.
Digital health opens up new healthcare solutions from the privacy of someone's own home. This is especially important for those who avoid HIV and SRHR services for fear of being stigmatised. It also promotes self-care by enabling individuals, families and communities the ability to take control of their own health care journey by promoting health, preventing disease and tactics to cope with illness and disability outside of the scope of traditional healthcare providers.
Harnessing the power of digital technologies to address the health needs of communities most affected by HIV is essential for achieving Universal Health Coverage.
Our vision: digital health enables selfcare
Aidsfonds’ vision on digital health is to enable the most affected communities to prevent, diagnose and treat health issues through improved access to comprehensive information, services and self-care products, and accelerate universal health coverage for everyone. To reach our ambition, we:
- support our local and international partners on how to build effective and efficient digital health solutions, e.g. health education videos in Uganda
- co-create digital health eco-systems that provide quality information, services and self-care products to our communities, e.g. youth brand B-wise Stepped Care in South Africa
- co-create digital health tools that support peer-educators and community health workers in providing health care to our communities, e.g. Thandizo tool in Malawi
- are member of the Digital Connected Care Coalition, Transform Health and the Digital Health coalition Kenya. These platforms support more efficient partnerships across sectors and reduce fragmentation, with the aim to harness transformative benefits of digital technology to achieve health for all in low- and middle-income countries.
The Stepped Care Model organises existing SRHR services
With our Stepped Care Model for Sexual Health we help partners organise and optimise existing SRHR services and information under one, trusted youth-friendly brand. It connects young people to the different services that directly meet their needs. It helps professionals to empower young people to make informed decisions.
Building upon 10 years of experience with youth-brand Sense in the Netherlands, we have taken the initiative to scale up the Stepped Care model internationally, currently implementing in South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Indonesia. Furthermore, the Stepped Care Model guided the Digital Health Coalition for Adolescents and Young People Kenya (DHCK), a strategic alliance to reduce the fragmentation of digital interventions and better serve the needs of young people.
Health at your fingertips with youth brand B-wise
A successful example of the Stepped Care Model for Sexual Health is youth brand B-wise, which is adapted to the South African context. B-wise is led by the South African National Department of Health that aims to become the most trusted, personalized and engaging source of SRHR health information for adolescents and youth in South Africa. Objectives are to decrease new HIV infections, gender-based violence and teenage pregnancies, increase retention in schools and achieve better mental health outcomes.
Digital self-care guidelines
The Self-Care Trailblazer Group partnered with HealthEnabled to facilitate the development of a framework to provide practical guidance for effectively designed, implemented and researched digital health in support of self-care. Aidsfonds as member of the Self-Care Trailblazer Group, co-wrote these guidelines.
More of our digital health solutions
Thandizo app supports treatment adherence in Malawi...
Thandizo app supports treatment...
Discover the digital tool125,000 SRHR education session on tablets in Uganda...
125,000 SRHR education session...
Find out howHave a digital coffee with us!
Are you interested to financially support the scale up of our digital health solutions so more young people can live healthy sexual lives? We are looking forward to jointly exploring opportunities to pilot new models and to scale up to other countries. Be welcome to contact Aidsfonds' digital health expert Leon Essink to share your thoughts and ideas. And coffee preferences ;)
Our partners in digital health
