A Rights-Based Approach to the WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health 2028-2033: Policy Brief

The first World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2027 was approved during the Covid-19 pandemic, when digital health boomed. The next Global Strategy on Digital Health 2028-33 should be grounded in human rights, setting out guardrails and a clear vision to promote benefits and end harms.

This brief draws on a review of human rights standards and peer-reviewed studies of digital health strategies (published 2021-26) to recommend steps to “wire human rights into digital health by design”:

1. Set clear objectives to spur action to address human rights harms;

2. Build on existing UN human rights standards and platforms;

3. Promote greater accountability, including meaningful participation of young people and civil society in digital health governance.