Anita Gurumurthy has been invited to take part in a panel discussion on ‘Digital Health: Addressing the Interface of Development, Human Rights and Data Governance’, during the upcoming UN World Data Forum. The event will be co-organized by the South Centre and the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Rights (Idec) on 25 April 2023 at 12.30 PM IST.
Digital health is rapidly expanding around the world with promises of better-quality healthcare, more affordability, and access. Meanwhile, health personal data’s sensitive characteristic highlights issues of privacy and inequalities (including those of gender, sexual orientation, race, caste, etc.), while there are growing concerns about the monopolization and market concentration of digital health providers. There is a need to advance debates on how to ensure trustworthy and ethical data collection systems and databases, especially in light of the serious impact of Covid-19 on digital health data in transnational contexts and on how to ensure that the potential benefits are accrued by the public system, including via public services.
This panel discussion will focus on the intersection between development, human rights, and data governance, aiming at discussing a comprehensive view that binds policy considerations, the broader legal landscape in data governance, and concrete country-based experiences. It focuses on ongoing discussions and mechanisms at the World Health Organization, on how to develop a public-oriented framework for governments and the public service, and efforts to safeguard rights in countries such as Brazil and India.
Besides Anita, Craig Burgess, Unit head data coordination, governance and partnerships, WHO; Ermias Biadgleng, Legal Expert, UNCTAD; Renata Ávila Pinto, Executive Director, Open Knowledge Foundation; and Viviana Muñoz-Tellez, Coordinator, Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity Programme, South Centre will be taking part in the event.
Know more and register for the event here.