Digital financial services (DFS) provide health programs with opportunities to accelerate progress toward global health goals and outcomes. By leveraging DFS, United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) global health program managers can improve health systems performance and support programmatic outcomes such as financial protection for vulnerable groups, delivery of essential health services, improved reach to marginalized communities, and increased health service demand and responsiveness.

This brief is intended for global health practitioners and implementing partners and demonstrates how DFS catalyzes health results by supporting USAID’s Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) core functions and strategic outcomes. This brief also shows how financial inclusion protects households and communities against financial shocks and catastrophic expenditures. Lastly, this brief asserts that the rising use of DFS is transformative and presents opportunity for development actors to use DFS to advance social outcomes.