On 27 March 2024, the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) and Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) Secretariat at the World Health Organization co-hosted a stakeholder meeting for Geneva-based partners working at the intersection of health and digital governance.
The meeting served to facilitate an open discussion about the governance actions required—both within and beyond the health ecosystem—to fully realise the potential and create conditions for meaningful digital transformations for advancing health and well-being. Members of the DTH-Lab consortium briefly introduced the Lab’s three workstreams and WHO presented the GIDH plus ways to support its successful implementation.
Stakeholders shared current and future work being undertaken to advance health and well-being via digital transformations. Many new connections were made and opportunities for collaboration identified, particularly around supporting more young people to play a role in the digital transformations of health, strengthening health data governance and addressing the digital determinants of health.
Issuing a call for healthy digital futures
Recognizing that 2024 is set to be a milestone year for political agreements on digital transformations, AI and global cooperation, participants contributed to a meeting statement that calls on policymakers and other stakeholders to consider the significant impact of these deliberations on health.
Stakeholders agreed that the health benefits of digital transformation will not be realized unless actors from different sectors and geographies work together to close digital divides, scale up effective digital health solutions, address power imbalances and extractive data processes within digital ecosystems, and create safe and health-promoting digital environments.
They also agreed that digital and data governance must be more participatory and inclusive—with the active engagement of young people, women and marginalized or disenfranchised communities—to ensure that innovations in health and other sectors contribute to the greatest possible standard of health and widespread benefits of digital transformation.
As Heads of Governments and other policymakers convene this year at the G20, United Nations and other fora, we urge them to ensure that digital transformations intentionally contribute to, and do not undermine, healthy futures for all.
To create conditions for digital transformations to advance health and well-being for all, we identified several priority actions for policymakers, the private sector and other organizations to take forward:
- Leverage the GIDH to improve collaboration and coordination in support of country-led and evidence-based digital transformation of health systems;
- Recognize the digital determinants of health and promote policy solutions to address them;
- Champion the right to health within broader policy dialogues on digital, AI and data governance;
- Engage diverse stakeholders including adolescents, youth, women and other under-represented communities in shaping the design and governance of digital transformations in health and wider society.
The full statement will be released soon. We encourage all partners to incorporate these messages into their discussions with policymakers ahead of these key global meetings and join us in securing a healthy digital future for all.
