ACROSS THE WORLD and ONLINE
6-12 NOVEMBER 2023
#DIGITALHEALTHWEEK
How to
Take Part?
- Participating organisations will have the opportunity to register their Digital Health Week Actions on the website.
- Select the theme of your activity.
- Describe your participation:
Take action by organising events, running campaigns, making public commitments, sharing thought-leadership pieces and other stories, engaging on social media. - We will display and amplify through the DHW Action Tracker.
Vision
Our vision for Digital Health Week is to create a global week of action that emphasises the critical role of digital health in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). We aim to raise awareness and elevate the public and political conversation around the opportunity that digital technology presents to transform healthcare and the potential challenges we face in achieving health for all.
Take Action During Digital Health Week 2023
Digital Health Week (DHW) is a global week of action aimed at elevating the public and political conversation around the opportunities and challenges of digitally enabled health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
DHW is an opportunity to hear the multiple perspectives and stories around digital health, its successes and its challenges in different contexts. It offers the opportunity to come together as a community to champion health for all in the digital age.
We encourage your organisation to take ‘action’ during Digital Health Week 2023. Actions could include organising an event, engaging on social media, sharing stories, launching campaigns, making a public commitment, or anything else!
Tell us how your organisation will participate this year, through the typeform linked below.
Themes of the Week
To encourage focused discussions and highlight specific aspects of digital transformation during each day, the week will be structured around daily themes that have been developed in consultation with partners. We encourage you to register your action on the day corresponding to your organisations’ chosen theme.
DHW Action Tracker
Organisations can upload details of what they are planning through the registration form . This will then be posted on the DHW Action Tracker, which will log all events and activities taking place on specific themes each day. This will provide participants with an easily accessible overview of all the events and activities taking place during the week.
Resources on the Platform
To support your action the DHW website will provide organisers with a set of resources that include: brand and design assets, key messages, a participation guide, champion quotes, social media content, and posters for each thematic focus area. These resources will facilitate and enhance organisations’ engagement during the week.
DHW Community Space
To encourage cross-border and cross-sectoral conversations, a virtual community space is being created. Participants can contribute and share ideas, knowledge, insights, case studies and other material to contribute to the broader conversation and to foster collaboration and collective learning.
Thematic Area of Interest
6TH
NOV
The unprecedented breakthroughs in digital health, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and the immense popularity of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL,) hold great promise to strengthen health systems and to improve health outcomes for patients. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for digital transformation worldwide and a striking example of the power and effectiveness of partnerships to deliver healthcare. Relevant and sustainable partnerships between governments, the private sector, healthcare providers , patients, legislators, and academia are of paramount importance to harness the potential of digital technologies and achieve health for all.
7TH
NOV
Digital health is an important part of most health systems, however to achieve the goal of universal health coverage they need to be developed and deployed in an equitable and inclusive manner. Unless this happens there is a risk that a digital divide is created exacerbating the existing health divide that impacts women, youth and marginalised communities.. As digital health continues to transform the healthcare landscape, it becomes crucial to ensure that these advancements cater to the healthcare needs of all women and girls in particular, , deliberately promoting gender equity and inclusivity at every level. By striving for equality and accessibility in healthcare technologies and services, we can guarantee that people of all genders, backgrounds, and identities have fair access to and reap the benefits of digital health solutions.
8TH
NOV
Digital health technologies are increasingly becoming an integral part of healthcare systems across the world. This advancing digitisation has brought with it its own risks, in relation to the development, deployment, application and use of of digital tools, at the personal level (in relation to personal data for example) and at the group level (in relation to the marginalisation and further exclusion of certain cohorts from the benefits of digital health technologies).
These risks need to be mitigated through legislation, regulation and policies that effectively govern the digital health space, drawing out the benefits for the individual and the population at large while curbing its potential harms, abuses and misuses. A global health data governance framework, underpinned by equity and rights based principles, is one measure by which we can ensure common regulatory standards, enabling health data to offer public good benefits and improve health outcomes for individuals. However, many such efforts and initiatives can be taken to bridge the governance and technology gap
9TH
NOV
We have now reached a stage in the digital health journey where we need to think beyond enhancing health systems through the introduction of individual digital technologies and to instead consider the digital transformation of health systems in its broader sense. We need to remove the underlying obstacles and challenges to sustainability and scale.
We need to focus on the actions and the investments that are necessary to drive a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable transformation of health systems in low-and lower-middle-income countries, in an otherwise fragmented funding system. There is a need to ensure that investments towards digital transformation are better coordinated and aligned – across diverse stakeholders.
10TH
NOV
Healthcare has swiftly evolved over the years due to digital technologies, enabled by data-driven innovation and AI centred healthcare solutions. Such advancements offer potential to advance diagnostics, treatment, and healthcare delivery. Climate change and pandemics have further spurred the advancement of digital healthcare solutions.
However, as we stand in the midst of this digital health revolution, it is imperative to carefully consider not only the potential benefits, but also the potential associated risks that need to be mitigated.
11TH &12TH
NOV
The intersection of digital health innovation and climate change represents a dynamic and increasingly integrated area of focus for our future well-being.
Digital health technologies not only enhance our ability to deliver healthcare efficiently but also can play a role in mitigating the impact of the global climate crisis. From telemedicine reducing the need for carbon-intensive travel to data-driven solutions optimising resource use in healthcare, this synergy is where innovation meets sustainability.
As we broaden our conception of health and health systems in a climate stressed context we need to confront the social determinants of health and how these are intricately linked with climate change. Digital technology, the production, management and use of increasing amounts of data, allows us access to greater analysis and information on the intersection between environmental and human health, and opens the possibility of more coherent and coordinated approaches to both for the benefit of people and planet. By harnessing the power of digital health, we can not only improve individual health outcomes but also contribute to a healthier planet for generations to come.
INCREASE SCALABILITY
Despite the increasing number of new digital health initiatives, fragmentation and failure to scale successful pilots remains as a major problem limiting global health impact.