Technology Can Transform Global Health: But Only If Equity Comes First

This blog is based on the chapter: Saatchi, A. G. (2026). The Role of Technology in Tackling Global Health Challenges. In Addressing Global Health Challenges Through Financial Innovation and Health Technologies. IGI Global Scientific Publishing. Full chapter available here: Read the full chapter.

Technology is often presented as one of the most powerful forces to shape the future of global health. It can support earlier diagnosis, improve disease surveillance, expand remote care, strengthen data sharing, and enable more personalised treatment. Yet technology alone cannot solve the structural problems that

continue to shape health outcomes worldwide.

Global health is not simply about disease treatment. It is about improving health and achieving health equity for all people worldwide (Koplan et al., 2009). That means recognising the role of income, education, geography, infrastructure, employment, housing, discrimination and access to care in shaping who becomes ill, who receives timely treatment, and who experiences avoidable harm.

The chapter argues that technology can be a major enabler of progress, but only when it is designed and deployed with equity at its core. Communicable diseases continue to affect many low- and middle-income countries, while non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease are rising globally. At the same time, health systems are facing climate-related risks, antimicrobial resistance, and significant workforce shortages (World Health Organisation, 2021; World Health Organisation, 2023b).

In this context, innovation is not a luxury. Digital tools can support remote care, disease surveillance, health education, population health planning, and more efficient use of scarce resources. Telemedicine can bring clinical expertise closer to people. Artificial intelligence can support diagnostics and predictive modelling. Mobile health tools can help patients manage their health conditions. Digital records can improve the continuity of care. Wearables can provide real-time monitoring.

However, technology is not automatically progressive. Digital tools can reduce inequalities, but they can also intensify them. If they are designed without attention to infrastructure, language, literacy, affordability, trust and accessibility, they may exclude the very communities they claim to support. People without reliable internet, smartphones, digital skills, or confidence in formal systems may be left behind.

This is why equity must be a design principle, not an afterthought. Health technologies need to be culturally relevant, accessible, affordable, and embedded in the realities of the communities they are meant to serve. They must also be supported by workforce training, strong governance, sustainable financing, and meaningful participation from patients and communities.

The future of technology in global health should therefore be judged not by how advanced a tool appears, but by whether it improves lives fairly. A digital health system that only works well for the most connected and confident users is not truly transformative. The real promise of technology lies in helping health systems become more inclusive, more resilient, and more responsive to people’s needs.

References

Koplan, J. P., Bond, T. C., Merson, M. H., Reddy, K. S., Rodriguez, M. H., Sewankambo, N. K., & Wasserheit, J. N. (2009). Towards a common definition of global health. The Lancet, 373(9679), 1993–1995.

Solar, O., & Irwin, A. (2010). A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health. World Health Organisation.

Marmot, M., Allen, J., Bell, R., Bloomer, E., & Goldblatt, P. (2012). WHO European review of social determinants of health and the health divide. The Lancet, 380(9846), 1011–1029.

World Health Organisation. (2021). Global strategy on digital health 2020–2025. World Health Organisation.

World Health Organisation. (2023b). Noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organisation.

To explore the full argument, case studies and complete reference list, read Ameneh Ghazal Saatchi’s chapter, The Role of Technology in Tackling Global Health Challenges, published in Addressing Global Health Challenges Through Financial Innovation and Health Technologies by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. Read the full chapter.