In 2005 the World Health Assembly through its resolution WHA58.28 on eHealth urged Member States “to consider drawing up a long-term strategic plan for developing and implementing eHealth services… to develop the infrastructure for information and communication technologies for health…to promote equitable, affordable and universal access to their benefits.” Countries and stakeholders were urged to direct their efforts towards creating a consistent eHealth vision in line with a country’s health priorities and resources, developing an action plan to deliver the proposed vision, and creating a framework for monitoring and evaluating eHealth implementation and progress. More than 120 Member States – including low- and middle-income countries – have developed such strategies and policies. In 2013, the Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA66.24 on eHealth standardization and interoperability, which urged Member States “to consider developing … policies and legislative mechanisms linked to an overall national eHealth strategy”. Drawing on these resolutions and recognizing the need to strengthen digital health implementation, in May 2018 the Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA71.7 on digital health, in which it requested the Director-General “to develop … in close consultation with Member States and with inputs from relevant stakeholders … a global strategy on digital health, identifying priority areas including where WHO should focus its efforts”. The strategy was developed through a consultative process launched in March 2019 that included discussions in online public forums, technical consultations, meetings of the WHO regional committees and the Executive Board at its 146th session1 . The global strategy on digital health 2020–2025 was endorsed by the Seventy-third World Health Assembly in decision WHA73(28) (2020).
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES – SHAPING THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL HEALTH
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development1 highlights that the spread of information and communications technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies. The outcome document of the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society (New York, 15–16 December 2015) highlighted the technology-enabled breakthroughs in government in the provision of health care, with greater numbers of people having access to services and data that might previously have been out of reach or unaffordable.2 The participating ministers and heads of delegation committed themselves to harnessing the potential of information and communications technologies to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, noting that they could accelerate progress across the health- related Sustainable Development Goals. Stressing the critical role played by the private sector,3 civil society and technical communities in information and communication technologies, the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 73/218 (2019) “encourages strengthened and continuing cooperation between and among stakeholders from both developed and developing countries”, and encourages WHO, within its respective mandate and strategic plan, to contribute to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and emphasize the importance of allocating adequate resources in this regard.
Digital transformation of health care can be disruptive; however, technologies such as the Internet of things, virtual care, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, blockchain, smart wearables, platforms, tools enabling data exchange and storage and tools enabling remote data capture and the exchange of data and sharing of relevant information across the health ecosystem creating a continuum of care have proven potential to enhance health outcomes by improving medical diagnosis, data-based treatment decisions, digital therapeutics, clinical trials, self-management of care and person-centred care as well as creating more evidence-based knowledge, skills and competence for professionals to support health care. Despite the considerable progress made by some countries, many countries still require institutional support for the development and consolidation of national eHealth and/or digital health strategies and the implementation of their action plans, which usually requires more resources and capabilities. The global strategy on digital health will enhance and complement the work of existing and newly created digital health networks. The Health Assembly in resolution WHA71.7 also requested the Director-General to provide normative guidance in digital health, including “through the promotion of evidence-based digital health interventions”. WHO subsequently issued its guideline with 10 evidence-based recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening.4 Digital health should be an integral part of health priorities and benefit people in a way that is ethical, safe, secure, reliable, equitable and sustainable. It should be developed with principles of transparency, accessibility, scalability, replicability, interoperability, privacy, security and confidentiality.
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