Deputy Director of Global Health and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Community Health and Prevention, Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.
Policy Specialist with the HIV, Health and Development Group of the United Nations Development Programme's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, New York, USA.
Health Hum Rights. 2020 Dec;22(2):21-32.
Digital health technologies have been heralded as a critical solution to challenges and gaps in the delivery of quality health care and essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet they also present threats to privacy and confidentiality, which can lead to discrimination and violence, resulting in violations of the rights to health, housing, employment, freedom of assembly, expression, protection from arbitrary detention, bodily autonomy, and security. More broadly, without proper planning and safeguards, digital health technologies can contribute to expanding health inequity, widening the "digital divide" that separates those who can and cannot access such interventions. This article outlines key harms related to digital technologies for health, as well as ethical and human rights standards relevant to their use. It also presents several strategies for mitigating risks from digital health technologies and reviews mechanisms of accountability, including recent judicial rulings.
数字健康技术被誉为解决优质医疗服务提供方面的挑战和差距的关键解决方案,对于实现可持续发展目标至关重要。然而,它们也对隐私和机密性构成威胁,可能导致歧视和暴力,从而侵犯健康权、住房权、就业权、集会自由权、表达自由权、免受任意拘留权、身体自主权和安全权。更广泛地说,如果没有适当的规划和保障措施,数字健康技术可能会加剧健康不平等,扩大那些能够和不能获得这些干预措施的人之间的“数字鸿沟”。本文概述了与数字健康技术相关的主要危害,以及与数字健康技术使用相关的伦理和人权标准。本文还提出了一些减轻数字健康技术风险的策略,并审查了问责机制,包括最近的司法裁决。