Leaving no one behind in the digital transformation of sexual and reproductive health

By Luigi Nuñez, Digital Health Interventions Advisor for IPPF 

For millions of people, accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare remains difficult because of distance, stigma, cost, discrimination, and restrictive laws. Digital health can help change that, but digital services can also deepen inequalities. During this #DigitalHealthWeek, IPPF joins partners around the world to emphasize a simple principle: digital transformation must leave no one behind. 

Start with people, not technology 

Across IPPF, digital health is part of a broader commitment to person-centred care. We don’t start with a particular app or chatbot. We start with the person seeking care and the barriers they face: receiving information through channels they already trust, accessing comprehensive sex education online on the phone they already own, and arranging remote follow-up care without having to travel hours back to the clinic. 

Complement, not replace, in-person care 

We believe in complimenting, not replacing, in-person care and community-based care with digital services. No one should find it harder to access care because health systems “went digital.” 

Local realities, global learning  

IPPF's Member Associations work in very different digital, regulatory, and social environments in more than 140 countries. Our Digital Health Interventions Centre, hosted by Profamilia in Colombia, supports Member Associations to understand their digital maturity, strengthen their capabilities, and exchange practical experience. 

Reflecting on its first cohort of 10 Member Associations, the DHI Centre shared: 

Working with Member Associations has taught us that digital health cannot follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Each association brings different realities, contexts and capacities, and interventions must reflect these differences. Being part of a federation enables organizations to learn from peers and access technical support to adapt solutions to their contexts, ensuring that investments respond to actual needs and capacities. Our work with associations in the Central African Republic and South Sudan illustrates this. Where internet connectivity and electricity access are limited, we have helped shift the focus towards low-tech approaches that can support progress in telemedicine, rather than starting with technologies that rely on stable internet connectivity or advanced solutions such as AI. 

What does leaving no one behind look like in practice? 

In Kenya, women and girls continue to face barriers because of stigma, distance, fragmented referral pathways, and inconsistent availability of family planning commodities. Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK) is using digital health to help bridge these gaps. 

Our WhatsApp-based chatbot, Nena Na Binti, has reached over 3,000 women and girls, connecting those seeking support to survivor-centred assistance, referrals, and case management. It also facilitates access to family planning commodities for healthcare providers across 44 counties in Kenya. By linking digital access with healthcare providers and existing service-delivery systems, Nena Na Binti demonstrates how technology can strengthen both access to care and the availability of essential SRHR commodities. Its reach highlights the potential of digital innovation to extend support beyond traditional facility-based models. 

– Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director, RHNK 

In Morocco, migrants face barriers such as language, mobility, and limited knowledge of their rights. In response, Association Marocaine de Planification Familiale (AMPF) developed a hybrid care pathway for migrants. 

As lead of the Safe Passage consortium, we have deployed a multichannel digital system: a WhatsApp helpline, a multilingual information platform, and a comprehensive sexuality education chatbot. These tools offer an anonymous, remote first point of contact, at the moment people need it. Counsellors provide information, make referrals and book appointments. People are then seen in our static or mobile clinics, or through teleconsultation when specialist advice is needed. The system also supports self-care (contraception, STI prevention) and post-consultation follow-up. By early 2026, the system had reached 20,000 people. Clients value the confidentiality and the chance to communicate in their own language; providers see better-prepared patients. Digital tools do not replace human contact: they open the door, and the clinic and community take it from there.  

– Abdellatif Maamri, Executive Director, The Moroccan Family Planning Association (AMPF) 

The next step: scaling responsibly 

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated efforts to innovate with digital approaches. We piloted in siloes. Now we’re developing approaches that are sustainable, evaluated, shared, and scaled. But that requires investment not just in technology but also in digital skills, clinical quality, safeguarding, data protection, financing, partnerships, and interoperability with wider health systems. And as AI creates new possibilities, we must be guided by equity, evidence, and accountability. The digital innovations we implement must make care easier to reach without excluding people or putting their rights at risk. 

Digital transformation is something we build together 

IPPF's strength is our Federation: 140+ organizations rooted in communities around the world, exchanging learnings, tools, and expertise while responding to very different realities. And we want to further enrich that strength by working with partners. 

Want to invest in digital approaches that make quality sexual and reproductive healthcare easier to reach, not harder? Support IPPF's digital health work, partner with us, and meet us at the Global Digital Health Forum in December 2026. 

Because the measure of successful digital transformation isn't how sophisticated the technology becomes. It's whether more people can exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, access quality care, and make decisions about their bodies and their lives, wherever they are.