Consultation Period: 7 January 2025 - 29 January 2025
Background: The WHO Science Council was established in 2021 to provide recommendations to the Director-General on current and emerging high-priority issues and technological advances affecting global health.
Like many others, members of the WHO Science Council observed the effective and widespread use of digital technologies in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including public health, healthcare, and research across high-, middle-, and low-income countries alike. In January 2024 the WHO Science Council began an independent review to explore the relatively slow pace at which digital technologies have been incorporated into the health sector for routine, non-pandemic activities pre and post Covid-19. The WHO Science Council took note of the more rapid adoption of digital tools in other enterprises, including the transportation, entertainment, financial, and other industries- which focused heavily on user-centered design, enhancing user experiences, and interoperability standards to enable seamless connections for secure and personalized information and services. These perceptions led Council members to determine the nature of obstacles to the wider use of digital technology for health and to seek recommendations for overcoming such obstacles.
Note: The WHO Science Council Report on this page is a draft working paper, and subject to change.
Feedback on the WHO Science Council Report:
Public feedback on this report is being solicited through this public consultation using the below comment form. Please note that only factual corrections should be offered for the background and introduction sections, whilst the findings and recommendations are open for more comprehensive review.
Please note the following guidelines when providing feedback:
- Please send your completed comment form to sciencecouncil@who.int
- Include your full name, title, and affiliation (e.g., representing a Member State or organization or in an individual capacity as person providing feedback)
- Please ensure that your feedback is precise, feasible and related to the specific issues raised in the report, indicating the page number and line number, the original text and the new proposed text.
- All submissions will be reviewed carefully, and an accounting of comments received will be summarized.
- The names of contributors will remain confidential and will not be included in compiled and published information.
Submissions: Please submit your comment form by 29 January 2025.
Thank you in advance for your time and valuable feedback.