Post published on November 8, 2021
Digital Health Week – a global week of action to advocate for digital health and its critical role in providing health for all by 2030 – will take place from 29 November until 03 December 2021.
Digital Health Week is an opportunity for diverse stakeholders – like professional bodies, the private sector, civil society, academia, governments and multilateral institutions – to advocate for digital transformation in healthcare in their contexts in a concerted week of action.
Organisations from around the world will come together at national and regional levels to host collaborative meetings and events to build consensus, discuss challenges and opportunities, and develop collaborative solutions to move the needle on the adoption of digital health technologies by governments at scale.
Digital Health Week is an annual moment open to everyone to make their own! Anyone involved in digital health can participate in the Week by organising events that promote the role of digital technologies and data in achieving health for all, with an underlying focus on equity, human rights and person-centrednes.
- Commitments (technical, financial, programmatic, advocacy etc.) to enable the digital transformation of health in their contexts.
- Events (roundtables, webinars, trainings, social media campaigns, publication launches etc.) they are hosting during Digital Health Week
A global governance framework on health data would enable the development and implementation of globally agreed and standardised regulation to govern the vast spectrum of digital health innovation today. Effective digital health governance also requires regional, national and community level guidance and expertise that addresses the cultural and contextual needs of citizens and communities. Globally unifying principles are a step towards this.
Annex 1: Relevant definitions
- Health Data – Any data that relate to the physical or mental health of an individual, or to the provision of health services to the individual. Any personal data that reveal information about an individual’s health status, such as immunization status, blood pressure readings, and diagnostic results.
- Data for Health – Data that do not specifically describe the health status of individuals, but are used to support health decisions, such as demographic data, telecommunications data, and weather data.
- Data Privacy – The appropriate protection of personal data of individuals from other individuals, organisations or entities who have not been given the right to access it. Privacy may also encompass agency: the ability of a citizen to make their own decisions about how their personal data and information are managed.
- Data Rights – Individual data rights gives people the rights needed to stipulate how their data are used. Beyond data privacy, data rights are seen to include aspects such as the right of people to be secure against unreasonable surveillance and the right to not be unfairly discriminated against based on data
- Principle – A foundational rule or belief that governs behaviors, actions, and policies
- Policy (or policy framework) – A set of principles and long-term goals that form the basis of making rules and guidelines and give overall direction to planning and development for an organization.