WHO reports faster digital payments for African health workers

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes a programme to pay frontline health workers by mobile phone rather than cash, including workers supporting polio immunization campaigns. Since its Digital Finance Team was established in 2020, WHO says it has designed and implemented digital payment solutions in 24 African countries and digitized payments for more than two million workers. The item does not report a formal study design or participant numbers.

Surveys in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Tanzania found that workers appreciated avoiding travel to payment sites, carrying cash and waiting for wages. WHO reports that payments could arrive within half an hour of completing work, compared with delays of weeks or months. More than 80% of workers reportedly preferred digital payments. The surveys, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, linked timely compensation with improved morale and retention.

WHO also says digital payments reduce the time and costs involved in distributing cash and processing receipts. The report provides no survey methods, sample sizes or quantified retention outcomes, so the strength and generalizability of these findings cannot be assessed. It describes an operational programme rather than a controlled evaluation of effects on campaign coverage or health outcomes.