Integrating Human-Centered Design to Advance Global Health: Lessons From 3 Programs

Emily Blynn; Emily Harris; Melanie Wendland; Courtney Chang; Dyness Kasungami; Monisha Ashok; Metsehate Ayenekulu

doi:10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00279

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Summary of Lessons Learned Across 3 Projects on Integrating Human-Centered Design Into Global Health Programming

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Featured Program Characteristics and Approaches to HCD Integration

	Project V	A360	Reimagining TA
Scope	Product	Program	System
Goal	Reframe oral PrEP to increase demand and adherence	Increase demand and access to modern contraception	Inspire and plant a seed for system change for improved TA
Target audience	Adolescent girls and influencers (parents, partners, health care workers)	Married adolescent girls	Global and in-country users, buyers, and implementers of TA
HCD dose (i.e., Design as an ingredient;Design as a spark; Design end-to- end)²²	Design end-to-end	Design as an ingredient	Design as a spark
Duration	South Africa: 2015–2018Zimbabwe: 2019–present	2016–2020	2018–2020
Application of HCD to advance global health programming	How HCD can reframe a product (shifting the perception of oral PrEP from medicine to self-care) to advance an HIV prevention service delivery program	How HCD can be used to define a new service delivery solution (“Smart Start”) that can be adopted by the ministry of health and rolled out countrywide	How HCD can be used to redefine program planning and delivery itself (technical assistance) in the context of global health programs
HCD methods employed	Market (literature review, stakeholder interviews) and design research (immersions, workshops), synthesis (user journey mapping), prototyping	Design research, synthesis, prototyping	Design research (stakeholder interviews), co-creation workshops, and design sprints
Outputs	Four-pillar implementation approach drawing inspiration from fashion and beauty brands, including a starter kit styled after a makeup bag that includes a lip balm shaped pill case that silences rattling	Smart Start, a program that uses goal setting and financial planning as an entry point to discussing the role of contraception with young married couples.	1. Nine critical shifts that need to occur to transform the current TA system. These shifts are a bridge between the identified challenges of current approaches and the future vision 2. Twenty design principles of good TA for global and local stakeholders
Funders and partners	South Africa: PEPFAR-supported, USAID-managed via Project EMOTION Zimbabwe: PEPFAR-supported, USAID-managed via Engage Design, in partnership with PSI, PZAT^a	PSI, IDEO.org, Center on the Developing Adolescent at UC Berkeley, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Child Health Task Force Secretariat (through JSI), Sonder Collective

Abbreviations: HCD, human-centered design; JSI, John Snow Inc.; PZAT, Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust; PEPFAR, U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis; PSI, Population Services International; TA, technical assistance, UC; University of California; USAID, U.S. Agency for International Development.
a V Zimbabwe was created in collaboration with adolescent girls and young women, health care workers, and a global network of partners led by Engage Design—a human-centered design partnership including McKinsey & Company, Matchboxology, and PATH—alongside PSI Zimbabwe, Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust, and the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. V Zimbabwe is infused with the spirit of EMOTION, a CONRAD-led partnership with IDEO, Matchboxology, Abt Associates, CAPRISA, and Instant Grass, that launched V (https://www.conrad.org/launchingv/). V Zimbabwe was made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through EngageDesign contract 7200AA18M00011 and EMOTION Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-15-00033.