Flagship project
Pakistan: Social Health Protection Initiative (SHPI) Phase III
SHPI Phase III contributes to strengthening of social health protection services by advancing digitalisation in health care services including set up and usage of elecronic medical records, digital IDs, e‑Referral and e‑Claims systems, and decision support systems, while supporting better governance, transparency, and gender inclusion.
The challenge
Public primary and secondary healthcare in Pakistan remains largely paper-based, causing inefficient record management, weak referrals, overcrowding, and poor resource allocation. Limited reliable data and low awareness of social health protection benefits further reduce service quality and access, especially for poor and vulnerable populations.
Our goal
Improve healthcare quality, efficiency, and access by digitally linking outpatient and inpatient care, strengthening data-driven decision-making, and supporting more effective social health protection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.
Our approach
Digital health system design and implementation through needs assessments in more than 180 healthcare facilities, IT architecture development, and set up of a data governance framework. Support IT units in provincial Departments of Health, implement standard operating procedures, staff training, procurement, software development oversight, hardware installation, testing, troubleshooting, and stakeholder coordination.
Impact in numbers
The initiative aims to improve access and service quality for poor and vulnerable populations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. Expected achievements include improved patient referral pathways, more reliable health data for planning and oversight, better coordination between outpatient and inpatient services, more efficient allocation of health resources, stronger institutional capacity within provincial health departments, reduced financial barriers to care and lower out-of-pocket health spending for poor households.
Key highlights
- Digital needs assessment covering more than 180 healthcare facilities
- Detailed IT system architecture and functional specifications
- Data governance framework for responsible health data management
- Support to IT units in both provincial Departments of Health
- Standard operating procedures and training for clinical and managerial staff
- Improved links between outpatient and inpatient care to strengthen referrals, planning, monitoring and resource allocation
Voices from the field
We aim to introduce reliable and sustainable digital systems in health facilities and expect this transformation to result in health services that are more responsive, accessible, and effective for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.