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UN Report: Digital Innovation, Technologies and the Right to Health

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health

In this report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health examines the impact of digital innovation on the right to health, focusing on ensuring the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health services. It highlights concerns about privacy, data usage, and discrimination, while advocating for equitable and inclusive digital health solutions. The Digital Health and Rights Project Consortium contributed research, convening, consultations and submissions to inform the report, promoting the report with a public event at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Key insights include:

– Promoting digital inclusion and affordable connectivity is essential to addressing health disparities and achieving equitable health outcomes.

– Strong data protection measures are necessary to uphold human rights and maintain trust in digital health technologies.

– Digital tools must be inclusive and free from biases such as racism, sexism, and ableism to ensure they benefit all populations equally.

– Addressing gender-based digital literacy gaps is crucial for achieving comprehensive health equity.

– Ethical oversight of health data collection and use is vital to prevent misuse and support initiatives grounded in human rights.

The report underscores the transformative potential of digital technologies in advancing health rights, provided they are implemented inclusively, ethically, and with robust safeguards to protect privacy and prevent discrimination. Balancing innovation with equity and rights-based principles is essential for ensuring digital health benefits all.

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