Global Perspectives on Digital Health

Shubs Upadhyay

🌍 Global Perspectives on Digital Health A podcast unpacking the stories, insights, and innovation shaping health systems and underserved communities. 🎧 Listen on Apple, Spotify. Watch on YouTube

  1. Digital innovation in humanitarian settings

    1D AGO

    Digital innovation in humanitarian settings

    How do global organizations built to respond and aid in conflict respond to digital transformation? The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) : you’re probably familiar with the work that happens here : emergencies, conflict zones, disasters, working at the last mile in difficult circumstances. How does an organization like even begin to approach “tech innovation” There’s clearly lots of need. What do you prioritize when everyone needs improvements now?  PLUS How do you adapt off the shelf LLM models for remote humanitarian contexts? Javier Elkin spent 3 years as Head of Digital Health at ICRC. He set the unit up from scratch. Coming in at a time, post COVID, the opportunities for tech addressing unmet need proliferated. And in parallel trying to create stability with multiple financial crises and organizational challenges.   If you’re in digital health and wrestling with the global scale and local trust and value tradeoffs, have a listen to how an actual global organization dealt with it.  Some standouts for me from our convo: We spoke about context : correctness vs being useful If you ask a LLM : What do I do for this gunshot or limb trauma, it might be reasonable to say that a response like : call emergency services is universally correct.  But in a conflict zone or very rural setting, that has zero value compared to “take two pieces of wood to act as a splint”, or try X to stem blood loss. How did the ICRC digital team work (with partners at EPFL) on their validation and evaluation to get better at these aspects? Your LLM might be technically, and even medically correct, but completely useless on the ground for someone.  Want to find out more about the MOOVE initiative? Take me there 2. Prioritization based on outcomes, constraints, feasibility Link to assessment framework 3. We get some proper concrete examples that cover: How they used tech to aid a handover to a local healthcare system in Western Nigeria after years of being there. How they used an open source tool already being used in the field to help spin up digital workflow solutions FASTHow they partnered with EPFL to develop testing, validation and evaluation pipelines for LLM decision support specific and relevant for conflict settings (some absolute gold in here) We also get Javier’s honest reflections about the humanitarian sector in general : how the financial crises (esp the last year with huge funding challenges) have manifested, what next for the humanitarian sector and what could be done differently.  Packed with lessons this one, do not miss it. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Digital Health and Javier's Journey07:55 Approach to creating a digital health unit from scratch13:53 Prioritization Framework at the digital health22:32 Innovative Solutions in Humanitarian Health29:21 Strategic Handover and Local Ownership35:20 Integrating Digital Health in Conflict Zones41:21 Evaluating AI in Humanitarian Settings53:26 Reflections on Trust and the Humanitarian Sector

    59 min
  2. USAID cuts, women's health and leading the right way

    JAN 28

    USAID cuts, women's health and leading the right way

    At the end of last year I got the chance to record the first episode of the show in an actual studio. Still a lot to learn about this versus virtually, but Patty Mecheal was a gracious and very awesome guest.  Patty, CEO of healthenabled brings nearly three decades of mHealth and digital health experience into this discussion we recorded during the Global Digital Health Forum in Nairobi in December 2025.   After a tumultuous year of policy shifts with USAID funding, WHO shifts and the cascading challenges globally, our conversation examines how we got here and where we need to go when ethics and inclusivity are politically sidelined. What we cover: The state of 2025 - USAID cuts and their ripple effects on healthcare and digital health in underserved communitiesLessons from the 1990s to now - what patterns keep repeating, and what fundamental mistakes we're still makingWomen as decision-makers AND consumers - why this isn't just the "right thing to do" (though it is), but represents massive unmet market opportunityValue and context in evaluation - how to actually assess digital health and AI tools in ways that matterLeadership with values - Patty's honest reflections on what she's learned and gotten wrongBuilding responsibly when the incentives don't reward it - what does ethical implementation look like now? This episode is for you if you: Build digital health or AI solutionsMake policy or funding decisionsResearch or evaluate health interventionsAre working on impact in women’s health Unfiltered, real insights from someone who's seen it all.  Chapters and Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Global Perspectives on Digital Health 01:24 Reflections on the Global Digital Forum 04:03 Patti's Journey and Background 08:20 Aha Moments in Public Health 11:46 The Importance of Data in Health Interventions 16:01 Learning from low resource settings 21:55 Building Trust in Digital Health Solutions 24:50 Balancing Scalability and Trust 30:22 The Role of Compassion in Healthcare 40:53 The Theory of Change in Digital Health 46:13 Bootstrapping Innovations in Digital Health 52:49 Compassionate Leadership and Ethical Practices 57:08 The Role of Women in Health and Technology About Patty: Dr. Patricia (Patty) Mechael is a global digital health leader, speaker, and award-winning author with nearly 30 years of experience shaping equity-centered health and technology initiatives across more than 45 countries. She is Co-Founder and CEO of health.enabled, where she leads the Global Digital Health Monitor and Digital Health and AI Strategy efforts with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO, UNICEF, and others. She is also a Senior Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she serves as the Co-Principal Investigator for the Gates Foundation’s Digital Health Exemplars and where she also teaches a course on Gender-intentional Digital Health. Known for translating complex ideas into human, actionable insights, Patty writes and speaks widely on responsible AI, gender equity, and the future of work and health—bringing a grounded, compassion-driven leadership lens shaped by both evidence and lived experience.

    1h 7m
  3. Why displaced people need a digital identitiy

    JAN 14

    Why displaced people need a digital identitiy

    I sat down to talk to Nadia Kadhim, co-founder of Naq about digital identity and healthcare for displaced people.  Nadia’s father was a refugee, and we hear about her journey into human rights law and eventually into data security and compliance.  We cover: That digital identity for displaced people is messed up. How this creates very real barriers to care (with examples)How healthcare systems aren’t set up for real access or meaningful care for refugeesCan we even do anything about this when political agenda in many places cares less and less about this?Why, even so, we should wake up - the likelihood of us being displaced due to conflict or climate change is going up. How would we want to be cared for?This is an everybody problem, which is part of why it’s so hard to solve.  If you’re into policy, data security, health and digital for displaced people, or building tools that could be being used by refugees, you’ll gain a lot from spending less than an hour on this topic.  If you care about this topic you should also listen to the episode with Aral Surmeli. Inspiring in equal measure. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Digital Health and Human Rights07:19 Data, Identity, and Access to Healthcare10:39 Challenges Faced by Refugees in Healthcare15:21 Real-Life Stories of Refugees and Healthcare Access20:32 Why no solution yet?23:01 The Future of Healthcare for Displaced People30:29 The Role of Funding and Multi-Stakeholder Approaches31:59 Data and Human Lives: The Health Data Poverty Problem34:22 Ethics and Regulatory Compliance in Digital Health38:22 Ownership and Security of Health Data43:13 Nadia's Recommendations for Policy Makers and Digital Health Founders ---- Global Perspectives on digital health shares the insights of innovators, donors, policy makers and researchers on what it takes to create impact at the last mile with digital health and AI in underserved communities around the world through audio and video.  We’re telling the underreported stories of impact that the digital health industry needs to pay more attention to.  There’s a growing back catalogue of over 20 engaging, inspiring and real conversations about the places in the world where the biggest challenges lie, but where the deepest impact in healthcare is happening. Tune in on gpodh.org Subscribing and sharing really helps get this to the noggins of people who care about this topic. If you found this useful, please leave us a comment and some review stars.

    50 min
  4. Evaluation level up : Measuring what matters

    11/05/2025

    Evaluation level up : Measuring what matters

    🎯 Evaluation! A make or break thing in the digital health.  I sat down with Dr Shay Soremekun from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to talk about the very hot topic of evidence generation and evaluation.  Everyone's talking about LLM evals, technical performance, benchmarking.  But ultimately people care about impact. Yet impact is rarely a neat, linear path to a yes/no answer. Anyone who's actually implemented something in the field knows about all the other contributing factors, the daily challenges and how hard it is to move the needle on big clinical outcomes with robust clinical evaluation. To understand why it improved care, if it did, was as important, if not more important, than understanding that it did. Because that will help us to understand how we need to potentially modify or adapt the intervention either in the same place or in future places to be able to achieve the same success.  🌟 Who will benefit from listening to this episode? Digital health companies : Founders, data scientists, AI/ML scientists, PMs, designers, clinical evaluation/study teams, cliniciansFunders : donors, investorsGlobal and public health professionalsImplementersResearchersRegulators Shay explains the use of Program Theory and Logic models to visually connect your intervention, all the intermediate steps (not just technology, but people and change) to outputs, outcomes and long term impact.  Making space to observe other levers in the system you didn't initially anticipate.  The work that Shay and her team have done with The Malaria Consortium and LSTM's Centre for Evaluation looking at a digital health tool for community health workers in villages and facilities showed this perfectly. Because they were intentional about observing the whole system, they discovered other factors contributing to impact and could redirect efforts accordingly. In this age of tightening budgets, and pressure to show clean shiny KPIs, how do you make room to observe these things?  We also discussed decolonizing evaluation: capturing what's locally valuable, not just paradigms of success developed in comfortable offices and ivory towers. So many learnings here for understanding good co-design, implementation, and how to measure what matters. Chapters00:00 Intro04:15 Mozambique digital health tool for CHWs : context14:19 Tsking a system lens approach16:25 Measuring What Matters in Health Interventions23:02 Resourcefulness in Low-Resource Settings27:25 Challenges and Successes in Digital Interventions29:34 Proactive Measurement and Adaptation31:20 Scaling Up Successful Interventions32:59 Revolutionizing Evaluation Practices39:38 Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge in Evaluations44:57 Key Recommendations for Measuring What Matters  💡 Keep learning!If you found this episode helpful listen to:Episode 15 : Implementation 101 and how to Fail well with Caroline Perrin Episode 12 : Health First, Innovation second, with Smisha AggarwalEpisode 5 : What is the right approach for regulation and evaluation of digital health technologies? I have also written a Substack article summarising what I learned from this episode. Check it out for easy reference to the concepts outlined. Found it useful? Know someone who is struggling with this very thing? Share and keep raising the profile of people impacting underserved community globally. References and links to things we spoke aboutinSCALE papers: https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0000235 https://journals.plos.org/digitalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pdig.0000217   Link for upSCALE  (roll-out of project): https://www.malariaconsortium.org/projects/upscale https://www.malariaconsortium.org/resources/integrating-upscale-into-the-ministry-of-health  Study protocol for Uganda and Mozambique:https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-015-0657-6  Links to Chilisa Bagele – one of the most foremost voices on decolonial evaluation methodology so a good start for anyone interested (talk at LSHTM): https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/events/decoloniality-and-indigenous-methods-global-health-evaluation-professor-bagele Centre for Evaluation Website  https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/centre-evaluation   About Dr Shay SoremekunDr Shay Soremekun is an epidemiologist and co-deputy Director of the Centre for Evaluation at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research in child and adolescent health and development covers trials of low-cost disease prevention programmes, and identification of risk factors and mitigation strategies for poor developmental and economic outcomes in this group. She is a member of the UK Government Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel (ETAP), and sits on the steering committee for the John Snow Society. She lectures at postgraduate level on topics of evaluation, epidemiology and public health, and has developed and organises an MSc module in Study Design.   LSHTM page: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/soremekun.shay

    50 min
  5. Social impact in a time of scarcity, and the power of community

    10/07/2025

    Social impact in a time of scarcity, and the power of community

    🚨 Nick Martin, social impact titan, one of the biggest voices out there in this space with a huge following and community, helping connect people to jobs, funding and much more.  Founder and CEO of TechChange, working with funders, government and tech, and giving people the skills they need to create real impact.  We’ve talked a lot about the impacts of the USAID funding cuts on this podcast. Nick, who has worked shares his view on the impact on grantees, humans and more. We cover: How do we deal with this new world order, and this new scarcity?What have we learned about the things that went well with USAID, and what could be better in the future?How do people affected think about their careers?How do organizations  adapt their vision, strategy and tactics in a world of scarcity, and be sustainable through this perma-uncertainty.  We also talked about the upcoming Global Digital Health Forum, a gathering that has been going strong for years, and why this year feels particularly important to bring people in global and digital health together. The next one at the time of recording is 3-5 December 2025, online and in Nairobi in person. If you're into Global Digital Helath and underserved communities, this is a great gathering to attend. If you are working in this space, dealing with the uncertainty, either as an organization or an individual, then this podcast is for you.  Nick shares some of the wisdom and insights he has gained over the years, and why community across borders is such an integral part of how we shape what global digital health looks like in the next 10 years.  Check it out - share with others working in the space. Leave us a comment or review - it really helps us reach more people.  00:00 Intro : Nick's story03:58 USAID cuts. Before, during, after : reflections from the development sector21:13 Career transition advice24:14 Funders need to step up more, but it's not that simple26:34 TechChange origins28:22 The Global Digital Health Forum : bringing people together34:30 Fail festivals and creating the space to talk about failure38:56 Wisdom corner : Nick's top tips Liked this episode? What to listen to next:- Episode 15: Implementation 101 and how to fail well- Episode 16 : How the WHO is evolving What to read next:Check out my Substack : Can Global Health and Venture Capital Get Along? About Nick Nick Martin is the Founder and CEO of TechChange, a social enterprise that has become a leading provider of digital health training and convening solutions worldwide. Under his leadership, TechChange has trained thousands of Ministry of Health officials in more than 90 countries through flagship programs such as Digital Health: Planning National Systems, developed in partnership with USAID, WHO, and Digital Square. He also leads the Global Digital Health Forum, the premier annual gathering for policymakers, donors, researchers, and implementers working at the intersection of technology and health. With two decades of experience in global development and public health, Nick has built partnerships with organizations including USAID, UNICEF, WHO, and the Gates Foundation. His work has been featured in outlets such as The Economist, Forbes, The New York Times, and Fast Company, highlighting his role in advancing digital health and social impact through technology.

    44 min
  6. Digital health innovation with refugees. A founder's story.

    09/09/2025

    Digital health innovation with refugees. A founder's story.

    As underserved communities go, refugees are up there as the most vulnerable. We already have systemic and deep challenges for physical health services not being designed for displaced people, and has we rush to bolt on digital and LLMs to everything, are we stopping and thinking about the key needs of these communities? And a word on innovation in humanitarian settings. This is not a problem that investors go for with attractive returns, or something you can meet the market where it is at. Rather, its down to governments and philanthropy to help invest in this. Aral recounts the massive challenge HERA have had to overcome after USAID funding was cut and how he has navigated and needed to prioiritize after the stop work order. Aral is the founder of HERA Digital health. HERA have built a tool that serves Syrian refugees in Turkey - targeted initially at mothers to be and mothers with young children, who, in the mess of trying to rebuild any semblance of routine in refugee camps would miss key antenatal or child development appointments. Aral saw the problems the community were having, and as a doctor in the ER in Turkey saw the downstream effects of this. Some key takeaways for me: In humanitarian settings, context is not static and always changing. HERA hired developers who were in the refugee camps - short feedback loops and people immersed in the context. This is a great example of 'Build with, not for"The communities he is serving do not get to quit, why should heDefining what success is in this context - it is not about HERA surviving, or Aral being successful, but the work, and the impact to those people. So he is optimizing decisions for that - and this means he can be open to other options. This episode is not a shiny rainbow story, but one about real struggle. Aral is still on the path of struggle and working to navigate through. If you care about what he is doing, seriously, get in touch with him. Chapters00:00 Introduction to Digital Health Innovations05:05 The Journey of Aral Surmeli: From Medicine to Tech07:47 Understanding Refugee Health Needs10:13 Building HERA: The Digital Health Tool18:23 Cultural Sensitivity in Health Solutions28:01 Navigating Challenges in Humanitarian Innovation30:50 Funding Dilemmas in Humanitarian Contexts36:01 Adapting Strategies for Sustainability44:03 The Role of Digital Identity in Healthcare46:51 Finding Hope Amidst Challenges48:50 Advice for Aspiring Humanitarian Innovators About Aral:https://heradigitalhealth.org/ Dr. Aral Surmeli is the Founder and CEO of HERA Digital Health, a nonprofit organization that helps refugee women and children access local healthcare through AI-powered digital tools. With a strong foundation in humanitarian health and digital innovation, Dr. Surmeli has led HERA to serve over 300,000 users, providing services like immunization reminders, prenatal care tracking, and digital health records—accessible even in low-connectivity settings via WhatsApp and offline apps. HERA began its work in Turkey with Syrian refugees and is now expanding across the Middle East and Africa. The platform is open source, co-designed with local healthcare workers and refugee communities, and integrates with national health systems and NGO services. Dr. Surmeli holds an MPH from Harvard University and is currently pursuing a DrPH at Johns Hopkins University. He is a former Innovation Fellow at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and has been supported by organizations such as Google.org, Grand Challenges Canada, MIT Solve, and Harvard iLab. HERA was recently a finalist at the AI for Good Summit's Impact Awards, and Dr. Surmeli is an active voice on the intersection of AI, digital health, and humanitarian response

    52 min
  7. Evolving beyond verticals and funding what matters in healthcare

    07/29/2025

    Evolving beyond verticals and funding what matters in healthcare

    🔍 I speak with Rubayat Khan, a systems thinker, entrepreneur, and now investor at the Endless Foundation, where he is helping reimagine how global health innovation is funded and delivered. We unpack what it means to move beyond vertical health solutions, how to prioritize innovation in an era of shrinking aid budgets, and how large language models (LLMs) might be the missing piece in unlocking integrated, people-centered care especially in low-resource settings. We also talk about the challenges, risks, pitfalls and how to think about the right counterfactuals for the context when we evaluate LLMs in healthcare. Rubayat brings the rare perspective of someone who has been a patient, builder, and funder, and who now advocates for rethinking everything from clinic hours to global incentive structures. 🔑 In this episode: Why governments are not always best placed to design people-centered care : an example of this was the fact that government run clinical in villages in rural Bangladesh were only open 10am till 2pm. And so nobody would access them as people are working on the fields or caring for their family. Four priority areas Endless Foundation is focusing onHow LLMs could shift access, quality, and cost curve if implemented thoughtfullyWhy self-care is the blind spot we can no longer afford to ignoreThe dangers of "digital colonialism" and what needs to change in global AI governanceWhat funders can do differently to support impact beyond rhetoric🗣️ Key Quotes “Most of what we call healthcare happens outside clinics. If we ignore that, we miss the biggest opportunity for real impact.” To paraphrase Rubayat:"A consultation with a doctor in Bangladesh averages 48 seconds. There should be little surprise that people (including Rubayat's parents!) find value and better quality information with a LLM than they would in their own contexts.  So much valuable insight for people who are building, or wrestling how to invest or fund the right interventions for last mile impact in LMICs.  🎧 Listen if you’re: A global health funder or innovator rethinking priorities post development cutsA builder working on AI in healthcareA policymaker exploring people-centered designAn innovator aiming to solve real problems in underserved settingsShare, subscribe, comment, leave us a 5 star review. It really helps us reach people who would find this useful.  About Rubayat Reubayat's Substack: https://rubayatkhan.substack.com/Rubayat Khan is a health entrepreneur and technologist from Bangladesh and currently Director of Health Programs at Endless Network, a US family foundation. Prior to Endless, Rubayat co-founded mPower Social Enterprises and Jeeon, which have both pioneered innovative models for delivering healthcare and other essential services to last-mile populations across 15 countries, currently reaching over 120 million people. Rubayat is a passionate advocate for bottom-up and user-centered thinking in global health, and has written extensively in leading global publications like the Guardian, SSIR and Frontiers in Public Health. He is an Acumen and Aspen New Voices Fellow, and is currently based in Baltimore with his wife and two children. (00:00) - Introduction (08:33) - Navigating the Challenges of Healthcare in Bangladesh (10:46) - Transitioning from Ground-Level Solutions to System-Level Thinking (18:07) - Identifying Key Challenges in Global Health Systems (23:20) - Seizing Opportunities Amidst Crisis in Global Health (29:30) - Leveraging AI and Technology for Healthcare Transformation (37:49) - AI vs Human Decision-Making in Healthcare (41:26) - Evaluating AI in Healthcare Contexts (44:07) - AI's Potential in Low-Resource Settings (46:47) - Concerns About Digital Colonialism and Data Ownership (51:05) - The Need for Coordinated Leadership in Healthcare (54:26) - Finding the Right Problems to Solve

    1h 2m
  8. Healthtech comms. Communicate your impact

    07/08/2025

    Healthtech comms. Communicate your impact

    Your Metrics Don’t Matter If No One Gets the Message : Health Tech Comms with James Somauroo of SomX.  Listen on Apple, Spotify. Watch on Youtube. We cover one of the most overlooked drivers of success in health innovation: communication.  Our guest, James Somauroo, has hosted over 400 podcasts and built one of the most influential media and communications agencies in health tech. His work spans startups, Big Tech, life sciences, and everything in between, helping organizations craft messages that resonate, build trust, and drive impact. We explore why so many well-intentioned digital health projects struggle to scale. Not because the tech or evidence isn’t good enough, but because the story isn’t being told in a way people understand or care about. 🧠 What You’ll Learn: Why comms is a massive unlock all the way from policy, implementation to on the ground innovation. How to go beyond metrics to communicate real value and outcomes. Thinking about 2nd and 3rd order effects the way journalists do. What makes a pitch deck land with donors or investorsThe power of giving people value in content to stand out. Don't just try to beat the algorithm! 🎧 Who Should Listen: Anyone trying to change people's minds Health tech founders, especially those working in low and middle-income countriesGlobal health implementers, policymakers, and fundersAnyone trying to drive adoption, trust, or policy buy-in for digital health solutions 📣  Subscribe, Connect & Share: If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone trying to make their work land more powerfully — whether with partners, funders, or frontline teams. And let us know your biggest takeaway on LinkedIn 👋🏾 About ShubsDr Shubs Upadhyay, the podcast host is a Primary care physician who has worked across policy, AI product leadership, and evidence comms. Shubs brings clinical leadership to help founders and investors focus on and communicate real value in healthcare. Get in touch at shubs.me and hello@shubs.me About James James is the cofounder and CEO of SomX, a communications and creative agency for healthcare companies. He hosts The Healthtech Podcast and is the Editor-In-Chief of Healthtech Pigeon. He is an anaesthetics and ICU doctor by training, has held roles in leadership, management and innovation at NHS England, Health Education England and the British Medical Journal and previously directed two healthtech startup accelerators. He has degrees in medicine, biomedical sciences and education and is a guest lecturer on healthtech innovation and entrepreneurship at academic institutions around the world. (00:00) - Introduction to James and SomX (07:51) - The Evolution of Health Communications (13:12) - State of Comms in Digital Health (18:20) - Navigating the Attention Economy (21:00) - The Importance of Authenticity in Content (23:41) - Psychology in Marketing and Communication (31:11) - The Role of Emotion in Decision Making (32:48) - Transforming Scientific Communication through Storytelling (37:09) - Crafting Compelling Narratives for Impact (43:59) - Communicating Evidence Effectively (48:28) - The Importance of Sharing Failures (52:10) - James' quick fire tips (00:00) - Chapter 13

    55 min
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🌍 Global Perspectives on Digital Health A podcast unpacking the stories, insights, and innovation shaping health systems and underserved communities. 🎧 Listen on Apple, Spotify. Watch on YouTube

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