A Commission formed by The Lancet and Financial Times asks for it to be counted as other key factors. And it calls for respect for democracy and fairness
The determinants of health are the factors that influence the health of an individual and, more broadly, of a community or population. These may include heredity, income and education, behavior, environment or medical care. Well a Commission composed of the scientific journal The Lancet and the Financial Times on Government of the future of health 2030: growing up in a digital world examined the state of the art of digital transformations and came to the conclusion that these too should be considered a key determinant of health. The Commission, composed of 19 experts from 14 countries, in the fields of global health, clinical medicine, public health, mental health, digital media, information and communication technology (ICT), social sciences, economics and politics and conducted surveys on 23,000 young people between 14 and 29 years of age in 176 states.
Potential to improve everyone’s health
Digital technologies have tremendous potential for improving health of everyone in the world, reduce social inequalities, close the gender gap and protect the most vulnerable, says Professor Ilona Kickbusch co-chair of the Commission of the Global Health Center in Switzerland. In the face of the great hype and excitement of technology, little has been focused on the broader social and institutional questions. For instance, how to protect data confidentiality while ensuring that their effective use for the benefit of public health? How can we address the lack of trust in technology by involving people and communities more centrally in the design and management phase? This report of ours must sound like a warning signal for countries to review their approach to digital health, outlining a roadmap that governments and companies can use to implement essential regulation and governance resulting in a healthier and fairer future for all.
Precautionary approach
But the Commission is also pushing for a radical rethinking of digital technologies, stressing that without a precautionary approach to its governance, mission-oriented and value-based, digital transformations will not lead to improvements in everyone’s health. Digital technologies could improve health in many ways. Eg, electronic medical records they can support clinical trials and provide large-scale observational data. These approaches supported several high-profile research findings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sequencing and genomics were used to understand the transmission and evolution of Sars-CoV-2. Digital technology holds great promise but the commission argues that, on the whole, digital transformations will not deliver overall health benefits without a fundamental and revolutionary realignment. To redirect digital technologies to advance universal health coverage, however, the Commission invokes the guiding principles of democracy, fairness, solidarity, inclusion and human rights.
January 20, 2022 (change January 20, 2022 | 19:30)
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