Scaling up Digital Healthcare, One Job at a Time

Around the world, healthcare systems are being asked to do more with less. Populations are aging, chronic diseases are rising, and demand for specialized care is growing faster than the supply of specialists. In too many communities, geography still determines whether a patient receives timely, high-quality care. We also face a global jobs crisis. Over the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion young people in developing countries will reach working age, while current trajectories suggest only about 400 million jobs will be created. Healthcare is one of the sectors where countries can respond to both pressures at once: expanding access to essential services while creating productive, meaningful work. That’s why the World Bank Group has committed to helping 1.5 billion people access quality, affordable health services by 2030. So far, we have reached more than 575 million people and created countless jobs—and, with our new internal efficiency reforms, we’re on track to quickly grow our impact. Digital technology has the power to bring healthcare to even more people—provided it is well-designed, governed responsibly, and embedded in broader health-system reform. It can also generate an array of jobs, from highly skilled to entry-level, that cascade economic opportunities across communities. Saudi Arabia’s SEHA Virtual Hospital offers a powerful example. Launched as part of the Vision 2030 national transformation plan, SEHA combines specialized medical expertise with advanced digital technologies to deliver remote services across the country. It supports more than 240 hospitals and can treat more than 597,000 people each year—making it the largest virtual healthcare provider in the world. Following the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, SEHA even supported the Saudi Red Crescent Authority in providing remote services to affected people. Yemen’s World Bank-supported Emergency Human Capital Project illustrates the power of digital health in crisis settings. By deploying a district health information system across nearly 4,800 facilities and using third-party monitoring, the project helped reach more than 11 million people between 2021 and 2023. In this context, digital technology not only expanded service delivery but also strengthened accountability where government capacity was constrained. SEHA is significant for more than its scale. Its deeper lesson is that digital technology can improve patient care. Through virtual critical care, specialty consultations, and home-care services, technology extends expertise beyond hospital walls. And, in doing so, it creates many jobs and leads to healthier, more productive, resilient communities. Helping countries create and scale solutions like SEHA is central to the World Bank Group’s approach. At our Global Knowledge Hub in Riyadh, we’re turning data into actionable guidance for our clients. One lesson is clear: good healthcare is dependent on a solid jobs strategy. That’s why we’re helping countries create the conditions necessary for job creation by building the foundational physical, human, and digital infrastructure; establishing the business-enabling environment with clear policies and regulations; and mobilizing private capital at scale. Across the region we’re putting this strategy into action—supporting clients to build systems that improve public health and create jobs. In Tunisia, we’re advancing telemedicine, disease surveillance, and stronger health-system governance. And in Jordan, we’re supporting digital-health transformation through electronic medical records, interoperable systems, telemedicine, and stronger health data governance. But let’s be clear: virtual care is not a shortcut to deeper healthcare reforms. It cannot replace skilled providers, systems, or patient trust. We’re working with countries to address the legal and regulatory questions that come with digital care, and we’re doing it transparently so that others can learn from our work. Digital health initiatives often attract attention because they are visible, modern, and politically compelling. But visibility is not the same as value. Countries need to know which services are clinically effective, and which training helps workers best serve patients. The answers will differ by country. A digital healthcare model we develop with one country cannot simply be copied and pasted into another. But it can be assessed, adapted, and translated. That is the promise of development: not simply exporting templates but helping countries learn faster from one another to create healthcare—and jobs—that improve lives. The World Bank Group is rushing to scale solutions that improve healthcare so more people can live healthy, dignified, productive lives. Digital technologies are a great enabler of this goal, but only if they are supported by national jobs strategies. The scale of the challenge is great, but so, too, is the opportunity. This editorial originally appeared on Asharq Al-Awsat.