A reflection on the GHF2030 Report by Transform Health
Transform Health welcomes the launch of the Lancet / Financial Times Commission report, Governing health futures 2030: Growing up in a digital world. This important piece of research highlights the potential of digital health when applied in an ethical and equitable manner, and within strong governance and accountability frameworks. The report also raises an important set of challenges that, if not addressed, will lead to a further health and digital divide, and further exacerbate existing exclusions and power differentials globally, nationally and sub-nationally.
Transform Health stands by the recommendations of the report as they relate to closing the digital divide by 2030, stimulating investments to ensure the transformation of health to achieve UHC, increasing participation of communities on the design and implementation of digital health policies and technologies. We also support the call for the establishment of decentralised governance models that involve cities and regions and ensure interoperability, clear distribution of roles and responsibilities across the different tiers of government and common standards for data management. We look forward to working closely with the Commission and taking these recommendations forward, further enabled by two Commissioners, Dykki Settle and Nanjira Sambuli, also serving as the Co-Chairs of Transform Health.
“Developing and implementing digital technologies alone cannot lead to universal health coverage. Building the right enabling environment, with supportive policies, regulation and investments is crucial to allow digital technologies to transform health systems. The Report’s focus on investing in the enablers of digital transformation of public health is a welcome one,” says Dykki Settle, Transform Health Co-Chair and Commissioner of the Lancet & Financial Times Commission.
Transform Health stands by the recommendations of the report as they relate to closing the digital divide by 2030, stimulating investments to ensure the transformation of health to achieve UHC, increasing participation of communities on the design and implementation of digital health policies and technologies.
Transform Health welcomes the call for stronger health data governance. Current ambiguities in data legislation and regulation, and media reports of data breaches across both government and the private sector is leading to a trust deficit between individuals and governments in particular. There is a desperate need for clear international rules and standards in relation to the collection, management, use, storage and disposal of health data and data for health to ensure this is done in an equitable manner where the rights of individuals are respected, protected and upheld, while allowing data to be used for public good. To achieve this, governments need to agree to a set of global standards on health data governance, such as a global health data governance framework, that can then be implemented at national level. This health data governance framework needs to be based on a set of core principles such as those developed by Transform Health and its partners.
“People must be involved in the decisions over who collects their data and how it is being used. Meaningful community engagement mechanisms must be integrated into the architecture of data governance models, including ensuring that refusal to participate in digital solutions does not deny communities the right to affordable, accessible and quality healthcare. The rights-based approach to the governance of health data in the Report reinforces the call for a global governance framework,” says Nanjira Sambuli, Transform Health Co-chair and Commissioner of the Lancet & Financial Times Commission.
Transform Health is committed to working with partners over the next 10 years to:
- Build consensus by bringing people together to champion digital transformation, particularly at regional and national level. As a first step, we have set up Digital Health Week, as a week of action to enable organisations and institutions working on digital health to come together, celebrate its successes and call for greater political action to drive the digital transformation of health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.
- Work with governments, the private sector, professional bodies and civil society to influence country level change through our national coalitions.
- Advocate for stronger governance of health data for public good.
- Campaign for increased and coordinated funding for digital health at all levels.
The Lancet / Financial Times Commission report, Governing health futures 2030: Growing up in a digital world, will be an important resource that we will use in our influencing work to shape the public conversion across different countries.
