Digital health infrastructure: Building Southeast Asia’s pathway to preventive care
Source: e27
Digital health is transforming Southeast Asia, using AI, telemedicine, and mobile tools to close healthcare gaps and boost equity
Millions across Southeast Asia face significant barriers to timely, quality healthcare. But digital innovations — from telemedicine to AI diagnostics and mobile health tools — are shifting care from crisis response toward prevention and early intervention, bringing healthcare closer to underserved communities.
Addressing Southeast Asia’s healthcare access gap
Healthcare accessibility remains a critical development challenge in Southeast Asia. In our three focus markets (Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam), only about 70 per cent of the population has access to basic services, compared to 98 per cent in developed countries. This infrastructure gap leads to delayed care, worsening health outcomes, reduced individual productivity, and slower regional economic growth.
At TNB Aura, healthcare has emerged as a core pillar of our impact thesis, reflecting the wider trend of impact-focused investors turning to access-driven sectors. Our thesis-led investment approach targets sectors where systemic challenges can be addressed sustainably, delivering meaningful impact alongside financial returns.
We believe that digital health innovation enables emerging economies to leapfrog traditional development stages. By shifting healthcare delivery from reactive, crisis-driven care to proactive, preventive models, communities gain improved productivity, avoid catastrophic medical expenses, and benefit from stronger social welfare systems.
Telemedicine: Democratising healthcare delivery
One example from our portfolio is Ora, which highlights the transformative potential of digital-first healthcare. In 2024, Ora facilitated 63,750 online consultations across Singapore and Malaysia, making quality care more accessible and helping patients save roughly 20 per cent on medical expenses compared to traditional clinics.
Reducing out-of-pocket costs addresses a fundamental barrier in Southeast Asia, where healthcare expenses often drive families into poverty. Ora’s expansion into hybrid weight management and men’s health services shows how digital platforms can tackle specific regional health issues while building sustainable business models.
Ora’s integrated approach — combining digital accessibility with clinical expertise — illustrates how systemic solutions are beginning to take hold in the region. Rather than merely digitising existing processes, successful telemedicine platforms reimagine healthcare delivery to serve underserved populations without compromising quality.
This aligns with our broader portfolio experience, where much of the workforce activity is concentrated in OECD Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible countries. By backing healthcare companies prioritising access over affluence, we contribute to inclusive economic development that strengthens entire regions.
AI-powered prevention: Scaling diagnostic capabilities
Preventive healthcare gains its clearest expression through AI-powered diagnostics, which identify risks before emergencies arise. Across Southeast Asia, digital health platforms use machine learning to detect diabetic retinopathy via smartphone cameras, analyse skin conditions from photos, and predict cardiovascular events through wearable data.
This disruptive technology both redefines markets and builds workforce capacity. Just as our agricultural portfolio companies empower farmers with data-driven insights, healthcare AI enables patients and providers to make informed decisions that prevent costly medical crises.
The economic benefits are significant. Our research shows a 94 per cent annual GDP growth rate gap per employed person between our target markets and developed countries. Preventive healthcare unlocks productive capacity and eases the burden on healthcare infrastructure — a critical constraint to development.
Mobile health: Infrastructure for health equity
Mobile health apps offer the most scalable pathway to healthcare access in Southeast Asia. By turning smartphones into tools for health monitoring, chronic disease management, education, and provider connection, these platforms empower individuals regardless of geography.
This democratisation of health information directly supports TNB Aura’s core impact: fostering innovation that addresses Southeast Asia’s biggest challenges through technology and infrastructure. When healthcare knowledge and monitoring are widely accessible, populations gain agency over their own health outcomes.
Women’s health benefits especially from mobile health tools, which provide private, confidential access to services, overcoming cultural and logistical barriers that historically limited care. This contributes to the inclusive economic opportunities visible in our portfolio, where 60 per cent of employees are women.
At the community level, managing chronic diseases via mobile health reduces strain on overloaded systems and improves quality of life, freeing resources to expand care to underserved groups.
Strategic partnerships: Building sustainable healthcare ecosystems
The greatest digital health impacts come from partnerships between tech companies, governments, and community organisations. These collaborations create systemic infrastructure change, transforming individual innovations into regional healthcare capabilities.
Government partnerships enable scaling, regulatory compliance, and integration with existing health systems. Community organisations contribute local knowledge and trust, accelerating adoption among vulnerable populations. This multi-stakeholder model embodies our philosophy that responsible, inclusive innovation drives a flywheel of growth and impact.
Such partnerships are essential to meeting Southeast Asia’s need for digital health solutions that are effective, inclusive, and sustainable, moving beyond urban, affluent markets to benefit the broader population.
Public health infrastructure transformation
The move from reactive to proactive healthcare is a fundamental reimagining of health delivery in emerging markets. Digital technology offers Southeast Asia the chance to overcome historic infrastructure constraints that have hindered economic development.
This transformation directly supports the Sustainable Development Goals with the highest potential in the region: no poverty (SDG 1), economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation & infrastructure (SDG 9), and reduced inequality (SDG 10). Digital health platforms prevent healthcare-related poverty, enable healthier workforces, build technological infrastructure, and reduce urban-rural health disparities.
Measurable portfolio impact validates this approach. Our Fund 2 and Fund 3 companies have reached five million beneficiaries, providing access to previously unavailable care and demonstrating how technology-enabled platforms scale impact while maintaining sustainability.
Investment thesis: Healthcare infrastructure as a development catalyst
Digital health embodies the sector where development challenges create sustainable business opportunities. Our commitment to deploying over 90 per cent of Fund 3 capital in OECD ODA-eligible countries reflects our conviction that the greatest impact and returns come from solving the biggest needs.
This sector fits our philosophy of backing category-defining businesses with scalable models across Southeast Asia. Like our agricultural investments reaching 233,250 farmers or education platforms serving students in tier 2 and 3 cities, successful digital health companies generate network effects that amplify impact.
These platforms also benefit from our value creation approach: laying foundations, applying best management practices, and developing strategic initiatives to build dynamic organisations with a competitive edge.
Following the healthcare innovation flywheel
Our approach to digital health aligns with our broader investment method: identifying tomorrow’s tech champions by marrying deep global precedent research with regional sustainability needs. We’ve analysed 660+ precedent models, informing 24 investments across three funds, with healthcare technology as a core thesis.
The flywheel effect is clear: each successful digital health platform serving underserved populations creates resources and insights that fuel the next wave of innovation. These data-driven, scalable business models pave the way for future healthcare solutions tailored to similar markets.
This systematic approach delivers what we call “impactful returns”: financial success grounded in solving real problems and creating lasting, positive change across Southeast Asian communities.
The path forward: Scaling healthcare access
As we look ahead, digital health’s potential becomes undeniable. Technology is proven, demand validated, and business models are scalable. What remains is sustained, strategic investment in ecosystem building — transforming isolated innovations into robust regional healthcare systems.
Our role as thesis-led, high-conviction investors is crucial. By backing companies tackling fundamental access gaps, we help institutionalise sustainable healthcare delivery models, reshaping how populations experience care and laying foundations for broader development.
The opportunity extends beyond healthcare, supporting our mission to address Southeast Asia’s largest challenges through technological innovation and strengthened infrastructure. Success in digital health creates blueprints for other sectors (from education to finance to agriculture) to bridge infrastructure gaps.
Focused on Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, we are positioned to back the digital health innovations shaping Southeast Asia’s future. The question is not whether digital health will transform healthcare in the region; it already is, but how systematically we can scale these proven solutions to reach every community.
Authors
Written by: Sathyavani Krishnan, Marketing Manager
Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and analyses expressed herein are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of TNB Aura, its affiliates, partners, or representatives. Any observations shared are based on my personal perspective and professional experience working at TNB Aura and should not be construed as official statements, positions, or endorsements of the firm.