Summit Institute for Development Strengthens Digital Health Transformation through Collaboration in SPHERES

Lombok Barat, March 26, 2025

Summit Institute for Development (SID) is playing a key role in the SPHERES (Scalable Public Health Empowerment, Research, and Education Sites) program through a strategic partnership with OUCRU Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Health (MoH). The program aims to enhance primary health care services through digital transformation, data interoperability, and strengthened human resource capacity at the district level.

On March 26, 2025, SID and OUCRU conducted its inaugural visit to West Lombok District to hold an audience with the Regent of West Lombok, the District Health Office, and to visit the flagship SPHERES Primary Health Center (Puskesmas). This visit marked the first step in preparing the district to effectively support the implementation of the program.

Collaboration between the Summit Institute for Development (SID) and OUCRU Indonesia in the SPHERES Program

1. Digital Integration and Interoperability

Over 400 digital health applications remain siloed by health programs within the Ministry of Health (link to the news: https://satusehat.kemkes.go.id/platform/docs/id/playbook/introduction/). However, frontline health workers at the primary care level are still required to use many of these applications for completing the administrations for the programs. SPHERES is designed to support the interoperability of data from these various applications, enabling integration into the national health data ecosystem. This is based on SID’s experience in successfully implementing data interoperability in Garut District and developing the Local Area Monitoring Dashboard, which can be used as a basis for data-driven decision-making. With SID’s support, this integration is made possible through the use of FHIR Implementation Guides, other supporting services, and district-level cloud servers that ensure secure and seamless data exchange across platforms.

2. Human Resource Support and Skills-Based Recruitment

As we all understand that even if we are going digital, Human Resources will be the key points in making the digitalization a success story. SID with its experience in gathering national unpolished treasure of Human Resource will participate in SPHERES activity to Provide a rapid, skills-based recruitment mechanisms to strengthen technical and implementation teams, including Sustainable Scaling Teams, leveraging SID’s established hiring processes and local networks.

3. District-Level Digital Enablement

SID is also leading the deployment of a comprehensive district digital toolkit designed to improve frontline service delivery and supervision. This toolkit includes Dynamic Worker Support (DWS) for health workers, knowledge gateway assessment tools, and integration with communication platforms such as WhatsApp API and Call Center.

Each toolkit brings a combination of supervision, human resource development, and improved catchment area coverage. DWS is a system designed to automate field scheduling, optimize routes, and provide feedback and necessary support to frontline workers, enabling them to deliver timely, complete, and high-quality care to every individual in the community.

Knowledge Gateway is a proctored online platform that assesses the knowledge and competencies of both health and non-health workers, especially frontline workers such as midwives, nutritionists, and community health volunteers (cadre), involved in antenatal care, postnatal care, and child health services. The assessment topics are tailored to each profession. This platform enables the measurement of knowledge levels and serves as a basis for designing intervention strategies and policy decisions to strengthen the capacity of health workers and improve the quality of care delivered.

Healthcomm, through WhatsApp API and Call Center, supports districts in delivering end-to-end services for the community. In collaboration with partners, SID has established a Call Center and WhatsApp API to provide large-scale, personalized reminders, health education, chatbot services, and consultations for the community. Frontline workers also receive summaries of individual care gaps, enabling them to take timely, data-informed actions. Additionally, WhatsApp Forms can be integrated as a tool to conduct health surveys.

Institutional Support and National Policy Alignment

This collaboration is further reinforced by strong institutional backing from the Ministry of Health. The Secretary General of the MoH, Mr. Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha, and the Head of the MoH Data and Information Center (Pusdatin), Ms. Tiomaida Seviana, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SID in support of district-level data integration and the broader digital health transformation agenda, with an Addendum signed in October 2024.