Global Health Faculty Fellows pen chapter on “digital health strategies for women and children” in a new Springer Nature book, Health in the Era of Digitalization.

Global Health Faculty Fellow Dr. Victoria Ward and Global Health Core Leader Dr. Gary Darmstadt explore how digital technologies can be used to improve the health of mothers and children in a new book chapter in the Springer Nature book Health in the Era of Digitalization. Ward, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford Medicine who is the Medical Director of Digital Medic and is affiliated with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) and Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute. Darmstadt, MD, MS, is Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health, Sue Alvarez Professor Professor of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, and member of the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute and Stanford King Center on Global Development.

Their work examines how digital technologies can help close persistent gaps in maternal, newborn, and child health, particularly for women and children in low-resource and hard-to-reach settings. Despite the existence of proven interventions from antenatal care and skilled birth attendance to breastfeeding, vaccination, and treatment of childhood illness, millions remain unable to access them. The chapter argues that digital health can help bridge this implementation gap by extending the reach, quality, and efficiency of health systems. 

Drawing on real-world examples from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Rwanda, Brazil, and other settings, the chapter explores mobile messaging, digitally enabled community health workers, telehealth, digital supply chains, data platforms, and emerging applications of generative AI. These examples demonstrate how technology can strengthen health education and behavior change, connect patients with providers, improve delivery of essential commodities, and support data-driven health and social systems at scale. 

Importantly, the chapter cautions that technology is not inherently equitable: gaps in affordability, literacy, digital skills, internet access, phone ownership, and particularly gendered access to technology can reinforce the very disparities digital health seeks to address. It therefore calls for digital health systems that are deliberately designed for equity, interoperability, sustainability, and scale, and ultimately envisions an integrated, AI-enabled system capable of delivering personalized, stage-specific support while reducing barriers of distance, cost, and access to care.

Access the book to view Darmstadt and Ward’s chapter (Chapter 4: Digital Health Strategies for Women and Children).