Transform Health’s Recommendations on the Global Digital Compact
Preparations for the Summit of the Future are in full swing, with the gathering set to take place in New York on 22-23 September, during this year’s UN General Assembly. Among the key outcome documents of the Summit will be a Global Digital Compact, which will outline principles, objectives, commitments and actions for our digital future.
Digitalisation and the use of digital tools have become an integral part of our daily lives. Health systems and health service delivery are no exception. If managed equitably, inclusively and sustainably, the digital evolution presents an opportunity to scale up access to primary health care services, strengthen resilient health systems, improve health equity, and move us quicker towards our goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030, as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recommendations on the latest revision of the Global Digital Compact
Transform Health has participated in various public consultations over the last year to feed into the Global Digital Compact. This includes last week’s stakeholder session on the third revision, which is currently under silent procedure with governments.
We commend the progress made on the Compact and welcome the focus on data governance, developing data policy frameworks, building digital competencies for public officials and meaningful engagement of stakeholders. However, we believe that the Compact should go further, with stronger commitments and actions that will pave the way to deliver on the ambitious goal it sets out to achieve. For this to happen, we make a number of recommendations to strengthen the Compact.
The goal of the Compact sets out a number of important aspirations for the digital future, including ensuring it is inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe and secure. We acknowledge the recent inclusion of “fair” in the goal statement, however, we believe this should go further by setting the ambition of an ‘equitable’ digital future for all. Moreover, whilst we commend the inclusion of stakeholder participation, we recommend an objective to “put people and communities at the centre of the digital transformation” – ensuring diverse communities are empowered to meaningfully engage in the design, implementation, governance and accountability of the digital transformation and relevant policies and processes.
Closing all digital divides (Objective 1). While we note the recent inclusion of a health-specific commitment to map and connect all hospitals to the internet, this does not go far enough to reach those without access to health services and with the most gain from digitally-enabled care. There should be a commitment to connect all health facilities to the internet, including community health centres. Going beyond tertiary care is crucial given the importance of primary health care in reaching rural, remote and “hard-to-reach” areas, and ensuring no one is left behind. We also welcome the inclusion of a commitment around the development of digital competencies of public officials, however, we believe that health workers are an important category that should be mentioned in this regard.
Fostering an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space (Objective 3). We welcome the commitment to ensure that the development and implementation of national legislation is compliant with obligations under international law. However, this should be stronger, with a clear commitment to strengthen national legislative and regulatory frameworks, to guide the digital transformation, ensuring that it is inclusive, equitable and sustainable and protects and upholds people’s rights.
Advancing data governance approaches (Objective 4). As part of efforts to strengthen data governance, we recommend specific commitments to strengthen the legislative and regulatory environment, including reference to the governance of health data – and that this should be underpinned by equity and rights-based principles. Health data is a unique category of data because it contains people’s most personal and sensitive information. It also holds a dual function of being a vital asset both for the health and well-being of individuals and of the wider population. Health data therefore demands special attention and governance considerations. Moreover, reference to cross-border data flows, should not be just about benefits for the digital economy, but also health benefits, including disease surveillance.
We recommend a commitment on the development, and government endorsement, of a global data governance legislative and regulatory framework – including sector specific frameworks, such as for the collection and use of health data – as well as to strengthen national legislation and regulation. A global framework would help establish consensus and alignment across countries around a global standard, which would also serve as an important resource and blueprint for countries to strengthen national approaches. The recently developed draft model law on health data governance – developed through consultations with more than 1000 stakeholders from over 65 countries – could help inform a global framework.
Transform Health and partners call on all governments and organisations to ensure the digital transformation – including that of health systems – is inclusive, equitable and represents the needs of marginalised and vulnerable communities. We call for these recommendations to be considered as part of the Global Digital Compact and we look forward to supporting next steps and implementation.