Digital Rights at Risk: The impact of ODA cuts on human rights in the digital transformation of health 

A new STOPAIDS study demonstrates that major overseas development assistance (ODA) donors have paid insufficient consideration to human rights in their digital health investments.

The analysis focused on whether seven ODA donors (AFD, FCDO, GIZ, and USAID, the Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, and PEPFAR) integrate digital health into their strategies, with a focus on digital empowerment, digital literacy, and human rights protections. It indicated that while human rights are referenced in donor’s digital strategies, they are rarely contextualised within digital health and there are few accountability mechanisms in place to address human rights risks.

Since the research was completed, the global health landscape has experienced fundamental shifts, including dramatic reductions in ODA funding by several donors. This includes the closure of USAID, the donor identified in the study as a leader in its digital health strategy.

In this article, written by Mike Podmore, Tabitha Ha and Molly Pugh-Jones, we argue that despite the ODA funding cuts, there cannot be further delays in ensuring a robust, human rights-based approach to the use of digital technologies in health and development.