How frugal healthcare innovation can rebuild global health systems

As the world contends with climate volatility, widening inequality and persistent geopolitical tension, healthcare systems increasingly find themselves at the frontlines of resilience. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), half of the global population lacks access to essential health services. Meanwhile, around 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty each year because of medical expenses.

In a future likely to be shaped by frequent disruptions — whether environmental, financial or political — traditional, infrastructure-heavy health models may prove difficult to sustain. This is where frugal healthcare innovation offers a credible alternative: solutions that are context-driven, scalable, cost-effective and resilient. These approaches are no longer relevant only in low-resource settings. Increasingly, they represent a systems-level strategy to build equitable, adaptive health ecosystems that last.

Rather than focusing on high-tech, high-cost interventions, frugal healthcare innovation emphasizes outcomes that matter, delivered through means that work under constrained conditions. Its core attributes — affordability, adaptability and inclusivity — make it uniquely suited to meet global needs.

Affordable solutions widen access. Adaptable approaches ensure continuity amid uncertainty. Inclusive models build on local knowledge and relationships, helping systems stay rooted where they are needed most.

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that lowering the cost of basic goods and services could lift 250 million people out of poverty. And, as the OECD points out, decentralized innovations are essential for financially sustainable health systems.

India’s eSanjeevani platform is one such example. It has enabled over 340 million teleconsultations so far, extending care to rural and underserved areas without the need for extensive physical infrastructure. Pairing telemedicine with community-level outreach brings preventive and primary healthcare within reach for millions who were previously excluded.

In Kenya’s Homa Bay County, solar-powered installations at eleven public health facilities have improved the reliability of maternity and newborn services in areas with limited electricity. These setups provide continuity of care even when broader systems falter, especially during climate-related disruptions.

In Colombia, antenatal care coverage has steadily improved thanks to frugal healthcare innovation. Between 2000 and 2019, the share of pregnant individuals receiving four or more check-ups rose from 72.6% to 83.9%, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Mobile health interventions, focused maternal health programmes and strengthened community outreach helped drive this progress.

At the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting, in sessions such as Health Beyond Healthcare and Cracking the Code of Digital Health, global leaders emphasized that future health systems must be decentralized, digitally enabled and equity-centred. What they described — from solar clinics to mobile diagnostics — closely reflects what frugal healthcare innovators have already been putting in place.

Health innovation used to flow outwards from global capitals and academic institutions. Today, it is often being shaped at the margins, by frontline workers, local governments and community-led enterprises operating in unpredictable environments.

As Deloitte’s 2024 Future of Health Outlook notes, systems that localize service delivery, reduce complexity and prioritize patient trust will be best positioned to meet future demands.

Countries in the Global South are not just adapting to today’s constraints. In many cases, they are actively redefining how the world thinks about healthcare resilience.

To realize the full potential of these models, the global health community needs a new kind of compact — one that does not simply fund innovation, but embraces frugal innovation as a foundational element of multi-stakeholder resilience.

More catalytic capital must be directed towards low-cost, community-based solutions, while supporting long-term infrastructure projects. Health policies should integrate frugal models into national strategies. Platforms that foster knowledge exchange and adaptation will be essential to scaling these efforts globally.

As WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Universal health coverage must be built from the ground up, ensuring resilience at the community level, not just in capitals."

Picture a future where a rural woman in Kenya, a displaced mother in Colombia and a farmer in India each access timely healthcare. There are no sprawling hospitals, no unaffordable bills and no complex technological barriers — just care that is consistent, trusted and close to home.

This future is not hypothetical. It is already emerging in communities around the world. The real question is how quickly global systems can support it at scale. Frugal healthcare innovation is not a fallback plan. It is a pragmatic, systems-level approach to equitable and sustainable care. It reflects how much of the world actually lives and prepares for what is next.

In a fractured and uncertain world, the systems that last will not necessarily be those with the most resources or the most advanced infrastructure. They will be the ones designed to endure, grounded in simplicity, resilience and human trust.