"Open Health Stack: 5 Solutions for Healthcare Gaps"
More than half of the world's population doesn't have access to basic health services. But there's hope on the horizon, thanks to mobile technology. In 2023, we launched the Open Health Stack (OHS), a collection of open-source tools designed to tackle the common challenges developers face in global health. OHS cuts down on development time and helps developers around the world embrace modern digital health standards, enabling them to create advanced digital health solutions. These solutions are secure and can work offline, which is crucial for healthcare workers in areas where internet connectivity is spotty.
Since we kicked off OHS, we've made some big strides in supporting the global digital health community and making a real difference in underserved areas. We've partnered with over 20 early adopters and have seen OHS-powered health solutions deployed across Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Here's how we're helping digital health developers worldwide with OHS:
1. Speeding Up Development and Unlocking Insights
Developers are using OHS to build digital health solutions that provide valuable data insights and analytics to healthcare decision-makers. Take Ona, for example—they've shifted from paper records to digital solutions with OHS, speeding up their app development and adopting interoperable data standards like HL7 FHIR. This has helped healthcare workers and supervisors deliver better care in underserved communities.
Similarly, mPower and ITECH-DIGI have used OHS tools to enhance their healthcare solutions. mPower has improved service quality in Bangladesh by accelerating development and scalability, while ITECH-DIGI has used analytics tools for better data visualization and decision-making within their electronic medical records system.
2. Sharing Best Practices and Advancing Knowledge
OHS has played a big role in spreading awareness and knowledge about interoperability standards and open technologies among global health developers. We recently teamed up with the WHO and a network of partners to host the first Open Digital Health Summit from December 1-3, 2024. Over 300 developers and technical architects from 45 countries came together to tackle the knowledge and skills gaps needed to speed up standards-based digital health transformation.
Attendees at the Open Digital Health Summit in December 2024
3. Boosting Developer Skills with Hands-On Workshops
We've held numerous OHS workshops around the world for hundreds of developers. We worked with Kabarak University in Kenya to run bootcamps for IT students and up-and-coming innovators, teaching them the key concepts and tools needed to build digital health apps. In India, we held a developer-focused workshop at the country's largest digital health conference, offering hands-on coding and building sessions on OHS components.
4. Exploring AI's Potential
While OHS provides the technical backbone for digital health solutions, there's also a lot of potential in AI. Google has already released a set of open weight models called Health AI Developer Foundations, which help developers build AI models for healthcare apps more easily. The OHS team is working with the developer community to understand their needs and create the infrastructure that will make it easier for them to build AI-powered solutions soon.
5. Building a Thriving OHS Community
Based on feedback from our growing global community of developers, we've added new technical features to OHS to help developers build faster and more securely. We've also launched resources like an educational video series to help developers get started with OHS. Since its launch, OHS has been a community-driven initiative, and we're thrilled to acknowledge the contributions of the many developers who keep OHS going strong. As Khyati Vyas from ArguSoft India, an OHS contributor, put it, "Working on Open Health Stack has been an eye-opening experience for me. It's inspiring to collaborate on an open-source platform that empowers innovation and improves health data accessibility for better patient outcomes."
Looking ahead to 2025, we're excited to keep working with partners and the global digital health ecosystem to expand OHS's reach worldwide. Our ultimate goal with OHS is to lower the barriers for developers and innovators to create next-generation digital health solutions and improve care for people everywhere. To get involved with OHS, learn more here.
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Comments (30)
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![AveryThomas]()
AveryThomas
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack sounds like a game-changer for global health! It's cool that it's open-source and tackles common developer challenges. But honestly, I'm not sure how it'll actually help those without access to basic health services. More real-world examples would be great!
0
![RalphBaker]()
RalphBaker
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stackは世界の健康に変革をもたらす可能性がありますね！オープンソースで開発者の一般的な課題に対処するのは素晴らしいです。でも、正直に言うと、基本的な医療サービスにアクセスできない人々にどのように役立つかはわかりません。実際の例をもっと見たいです！
0
![JamesTaylor]()
JamesTaylor
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack parece ser uma mudança de jogo para a saúde global! É legal que seja de código aberto e resolva desafios comuns dos desenvolvedores. Mas, sinceramente, não sei como vai ajudar realmente quem não tem acesso aos serviços básicos de saúde. Mais exemplos do mundo real seriam ótimos!
0
![FrankMartínez]()
FrankMartínez
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack suena como un cambio de juego para la salud global. ¡Es genial que sea de código abierto y aborde los desafíos comunes de los desarrolladores! Pero, honestamente, no estoy seguro de cómo ayudará realmente a quienes no tienen acceso a servicios de salud básicos. Más ejemplos del mundo real serían geniales.
0
![ChloeGreen]()
ChloeGreen
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack звучит как прорыв для глобального здравоохранения! Круто, что это открытое ПО и оно решает общие проблемы разработчиков. Но честно говоря, не уверен, как это действительно поможет тем, у кого нет доступа к базовым медицинским услугам. Было бы здорово увидеть больше реальных примеров!
0
![PeterNelson]()
PeterNelson
April 12, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack is a game-changer for global healthcare! It's amazing how these tools can address so many gaps. I've used it to help set up a mobile clinic in my community. The only downside is that some tools are a bit complex to set up. Maybe more user-friendly guides would help?
0
More than half of the world's population doesn't have access to basic health services. But there's hope on the horizon, thanks to mobile technology. In 2023, we launched the Open Health Stack (OHS), a collection of open-source tools designed to tackle the common challenges developers face in global health. OHS cuts down on development time and helps developers around the world embrace modern digital health standards, enabling them to create advanced digital health solutions. These solutions are secure and can work offline, which is crucial for healthcare workers in areas where internet connectivity is spotty.
Since we kicked off OHS, we've made some big strides in supporting the global digital health community and making a real difference in underserved areas. We've partnered with over 20 early adopters and have seen OHS-powered health solutions deployed across Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Here's how we're helping digital health developers worldwide with OHS:
1. Speeding Up Development and Unlocking Insights
Developers are using OHS to build digital health solutions that provide valuable data insights and analytics to healthcare decision-makers. Take Ona, for example—they've shifted from paper records to digital solutions with OHS, speeding up their app development and adopting interoperable data standards like HL7 FHIR. This has helped healthcare workers and supervisors deliver better care in underserved communities.
Similarly, mPower and ITECH-DIGI have used OHS tools to enhance their healthcare solutions. mPower has improved service quality in Bangladesh by accelerating development and scalability, while ITECH-DIGI has used analytics tools for better data visualization and decision-making within their electronic medical records system.
2. Sharing Best Practices and Advancing Knowledge
OHS has played a big role in spreading awareness and knowledge about interoperability standards and open technologies among global health developers. We recently teamed up with the WHO and a network of partners to host the first Open Digital Health Summit from December 1-3, 2024. Over 300 developers and technical architects from 45 countries came together to tackle the knowledge and skills gaps needed to speed up standards-based digital health transformation.
Attendees at the Open Digital Health Summit in December 2024
3. Boosting Developer Skills with Hands-On Workshops
We've held numerous OHS workshops around the world for hundreds of developers. We worked with Kabarak University in Kenya to run bootcamps for IT students and up-and-coming innovators, teaching them the key concepts and tools needed to build digital health apps. In India, we held a developer-focused workshop at the country's largest digital health conference, offering hands-on coding and building sessions on OHS components.
4. Exploring AI's Potential
While OHS provides the technical backbone for digital health solutions, there's also a lot of potential in AI. Google has already released a set of open weight models called Health AI Developer Foundations, which help developers build AI models for healthcare apps more easily. The OHS team is working with the developer community to understand their needs and create the infrastructure that will make it easier for them to build AI-powered solutions soon.
5. Building a Thriving OHS Community
Based on feedback from our growing global community of developers, we've added new technical features to OHS to help developers build faster and more securely. We've also launched resources like an educational video series to help developers get started with OHS. Since its launch, OHS has been a community-driven initiative, and we're thrilled to acknowledge the contributions of the many developers who keep OHS going strong. As Khyati Vyas from ArguSoft India, an OHS contributor, put it, "Working on Open Health Stack has been an eye-opening experience for me. It's inspiring to collaborate on an open-source platform that empowers innovation and improves health data accessibility for better patient outcomes."
Looking ahead to 2025, we're excited to keep working with partners and the global digital health ecosystem to expand OHS's reach worldwide. Our ultimate goal with OHS is to lower the barriers for developers and innovators to create next-generation digital health solutions and improve care for people everywhere. To get involved with OHS, learn more here.
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April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack sounds like a game-changer for global health! It's cool that it's open-source and tackles common developer challenges. But honestly, I'm not sure how it'll actually help those without access to basic health services. More real-world examples would be great!
0
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stackは世界の健康に変革をもたらす可能性がありますね！オープンソースで開発者の一般的な課題に対処するのは素晴らしいです。でも、正直に言うと、基本的な医療サービスにアクセスできない人々にどのように役立つかはわかりません。実際の例をもっと見たいです！
0
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack parece ser uma mudança de jogo para a saúde global! É legal que seja de código aberto e resolva desafios comuns dos desenvolvedores. Mas, sinceramente, não sei como vai ajudar realmente quem não tem acesso aos serviços básicos de saúde. Mais exemplos do mundo real seriam ótimos!
0
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack suena como un cambio de juego para la salud global. ¡Es genial que sea de código abierto y aborde los desafíos comunes de los desarrolladores! Pero, honestamente, no estoy seguro de cómo ayudará realmente a quienes no tienen acceso a servicios de salud básicos. Más ejemplos del mundo real serían geniales.
0
April 11, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack звучит как прорыв для глобального здравоохранения! Круто, что это открытое ПО и оно решает общие проблемы разработчиков. Но честно говоря, не уверен, как это действительно поможет тем, у кого нет доступа к базовым медицинским услугам. Было бы здорово увидеть больше реальных примеров!
0
April 12, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM GMT
Open Health Stack is a game-changer for global healthcare! It's amazing how these tools can address so many gaps. I've used it to help set up a mobile clinic in my community. The only downside is that some tools are a bit complex to set up. Maybe more user-friendly guides would help?
0
