A framework for embedding health equity at every stage of digital health infrastructure — from screening to referral completion to outcomes reporting.
In March 2026, the World Health Organization published a scoping review of 154 studies examining how equity is built into digital health systems globally. The central finding: equity is increasingly referenced in strategy, but rarely measured after deployment. WHO calls this the "cumulative digital health equity gap" and advocates for an equity-by-design approach — equity embedded at every stage of a digital health system's life cycle, not added as an afterthought.