Digital and data tools are revolutionizing systems for health in countries across the world. Their impact in challenging operating environments (COEs), in particular, has transformative potential — overcoming challenges that have stymied consistent access to health services for millions of vulnerable people.

Despite being home to less than 14 percent of the world’s population, COEs account for approximately one third of the global disease burden for HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. The intertwining crises facing the world today — the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger, conflict and the climate crisis — all have enormous impacts on health. The World Health Organization reports that health systems in all regions and in countries of all income levels are severely impacted, with little to no improvement since 2021. These compounding crises could continue to reverse hard-won gains in addressing poverty, infectious diseases and inequality, particularly in COEs. But they also present an opportunity to do things differently, using new tools and flexible approaches to deliver health services to the most vulnerable.