1University School of Management Studies, GGS Indraprastha University, Dwarka, New Delhi, India
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The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the global challenges and aim to create a more sustainable and equitable world by 2030. As countries strive towards achieving these goals, SDG-3, which focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, is of paramount importance to build a sustainable health ecosystem. Countries must build a resilient health ecosystem which can sustain future pandemics as well. One of the prominent targets of this SDG is achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which focuses on ensuring quality, accessibility, and affordability of health services for all. Digital health initiatives in the healthcare sector are one of the key emerging technologies and have gained enormous attention from healthcare organisations, various stakeholders, and even scholars. These technological interventions can further be leveraged to attain SDG-3. In light of these points, we conducted a hybrid-narrative review to provide a holistic view of the current literature, the opportunities, and the pitfalls for stakeholders. Further, future research directions for academicians were discussed. Digital health technologies can help in support of registration, financial support, the spread of awareness, unique identification, and maintenance of health records, which can facilitate a more robust healthcare system. A cascading model is presented for operationalising the role of digital health in achieving UHC and thus, moving towards a more sustainable healthcare system. Finally, the article summarises the key recommendations for various stakeholders and policymakers to maximise the impact of digital health for achieving UHC and thus, advancing the SDGs.
Health care management, technology & innovation, health information technology, management
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