EDIT: A Tool for the Greater Good

​​​While collaborating with funders and partners in the Electronic Immunization Registry (EIR) ecosystem, it became clear to us that the work Kati Collective was doing could be adapted for a more general assessment of a country’s readiness to implement digital solutions.

From that joint effort – which included The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, CDC, GAVI, PATH, Village Reach, and others – we created the Early Stage Digital Health Investment Tool (EDIT) in response to an outcome we kept seeing: the gap between the desire to implement digital health systems ​​and actual readiness to do so.

EDIT identifies a set of critical indicators that must be met prior to planning and implementing a new digital health intervention. Countries often have needs for digital solutions and investors and partners want to understand how they can best target resources. With so many enthusiastic and committed partners ready to invest, EDIT is designed to identify areas that need improvement in order to ensure critical building blocks are in place so that solutions can be fully executed and positioned for scale and sustainability.

EDIT digs deeply into a set of six essential building blocks: human capacity, investments and funding, data capture and use, infrastructure, standards and interoperability, and governance and policy. With measurable results in each of these areas, health ministries and donors can address their issues and strengthen their foundation before approaching funders.

When we posted about this new tool last October, we noted that it was our goal to use EDIT for the greater good. Now, with a global pandemic severely hampering health care and access in LMICs, we have updated the EDIT, recalibrated it for Covid-19, and released the tool for public use. Using EDIT to plan for investing in a digital health system will help countries protect health workers, ensure continuity of care, and limit overall exposure during this crisis.

EDIT is a rapid response tool -- the assessment can be done in approximately a week. Health ministries are focused on containing the spread of the coronavirus and there are funders ready to support them. Working together, they can begin the assessment immediately and quickly identify what must be in place to successfully implement a new digital health system, despite this tumultuous time.

Using a scale of one to five, the assessment results are used to guide conversations between countries and stakeholders to develop a roadmap to address readiness and begin building vital infrastructures to ensure positive outcomes. EDIT draws on and augments other frameworks and tools that are in the ecosystem and provides the targeted and comprehensive set of information required to understand where to pinpoint digital health investments.

On the Kati Collective website, you can access an explanation of how EDIT works and the gaps it addresses as well as the tool itself. We are available to provide a spectrum of support, a detailed report, and tailored recommendations for those who need assistance conducting EDIT for a particular situation.

We hope EDIT can be used by governments, donors, and other stakeholders to fully leverage the potential of digital technology for health and to quickly identify gaps, address urgent needs, and implement solutions.

Please contact us at info@katicollective.com with any questions.