Your Excellency Minister Fahad bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, afternoon and evening, and thank you all for joining us today.
As you all know, digital technologies have played an increasingly important role in global health for many years.
Digital diagnostics now enable on-the-spot testing for diabetes, HIV and malaria;
3-D printing is revolutionizing the manufacture of medical devices, orthotics and prosthetics;
Some countries are using drones to deliver blood, vaccines and other medical supplies;
And during the pandemic, digital technologies have been used in contact tracing, and to deliver care remotely.
These technologies will only become more important in the way people manage their own health, and in the way they receive care.
The future of health is digital.
So it seems incredible to think that just five years ago, WHO did not have a dedicated department focused on digital health.
That’s why, as part of the WHO transformation, we established a Department of Digital Health and Innovation, to prioritize, integrate and regulate digital technologies for health.
Almost two years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic was erupting globally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led the development of the Riyadh Declaration on Digital Health, as part of its G20 presidency.
The same year, WHO’s Member States adopted a five-year Global Strategy on digital health.
One of the objectives of the global strategy is to promote collaboration and advance the transfer of knowledge on digital health. And that is what is happening here today.
We have come a long way just in the past two years.
To strengthen the uptake of digital health products and guidelines, WHO and partners have developed a course that has been used to train over 150 national digital health focal points and over 400 digital health professionals from 106 countries.
We have also formed new partnerships with technology companies to fight misinformation and disinformation.
During the pandemic, we convened a monthly meeting of over 60 technology companies and social media platforms, and we established chatbots that provided accurate information to more than 15 million people.
Digital vaccination certificates have proven critical for accelerating coverage rates and reopening borders and economies.
The lessons learned from that experience, along with the digital infrastructure that was developed, will inform how WHO will support digital vaccination records in future.
WHO also supported recommendations to fast-track the implementation of telemedicine in several countries.
With the International Telecommunication Union, we have recently released guidance on the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health.
And we are about to release new guidance on developing regulatory frameworks for digital health, and on generating evidence for artificial intelligence-based medical devices.
WHO remains committed to supporting countries to prioritize, integrate and regulate digital technologies to increase access to health services, and improve health outcomes.
Thank you, Your Excellency, for your continued commitment and leadership in this area.
I hope that this meeting will help to establish strong commitments to global multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships to harness the power of digital technologies for a healthier, safer, fairer future.
I thank you.