IGF 2021 WS #34
Digital Tools for Mitigating Inequities in Healthcare

Organizer 1: Matthew Schwartz, Innovators Network Foundation
Organizer 2: Brian Scarpelli, ACT | The App Association

Speaker 1: Lucienne Ide, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Analia Baum, Government, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Jelena Malinina , Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Moderator

Brian Scarpelli, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Online Moderator

Matthew Schwartz, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Rapporteur

Matthew Schwartz, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Format

Round Table - Circle - 60 Min

Policy Question(s)

Promoting equitable development and preventing harm: How can we make use of digital technologies to promote more equitable and peaceful societies that are inclusive, resilient and sustainable? How can we make sure that digital technologies are not developed and used for harmful purposes? What values and norms should guide the development and use of technologies to enable this?

i. Are digital health tools the right solution to improve healthcare outcomes even after the exigencies of the COVID-19 crisis subside?
ii. What is the best way to bridge the digital divide that not only separates rural areas from urban, but the global south and developing nations from the rest of the world in terms of access to digital health?
iii. How can policymakers ensure that patients retain strong privacy and security assurances as the provision of some healthcare moves from in-person to online?
iv. What are the opportunities and risks of supplementing traditional healthcare with AI-powered analytics tools.

SDGs

3. Good Health and Well-Being
5. Gender Equality
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions


Targets: Increasing use of health technology in the current crisis presents a unique and unprecedented opportunity to think carefully about the greater use and adoption of trustworthy health technology to improve the world's response to health disparities in geographies, communities, and demographics. Finding a viable, responsible path toward the provision of digital health tools during after the COVID-19 crisis inherently means respecting the privacy of individuals and mitigating existing imbalances in healthcare.

Description:

When it comes to healthcare, we often see a bifurcation in which educated, urban, broadband-connected, and higher-income people have access to high-quality healthcare and resources, while rural, lower-income, less educated, and populations of color struggle to access quality care—and where health outcomes are significantly worse than those found in the first group.

While these fault lines have always existed, the last year has only amplified the seriousness of the problem.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to historically medically underserved communities and has highlighted the lack of health equity in these communities. During the pandemic, we have also seen rapid adoption of health technologies such as telehealth and remote monitoring to provide patients with alternate means of accessing care during a particularly challenging time. But as the pandemic raged on, it has become clear that many health technology solutions that have proven effective in response to COVID-19 were not available to many people for many reasons.

This panel will evaluate how increasing use of health technology in the current crisis presents a unique and unprecedented opportunity to think carefully about the greater use and adoption of trustworthy health technology to improve the world's response to health disparities in geographies, communities, and demographics.

Expected Outcomes

1. Understand the spectrum of opportunities and challenges that digital health tools will bring to bear on communities during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those opportunities and challenges are mediated by socio-economic factors. 2. Learn about what the IGF community can do to further action and cross-sector collaboration to realize the potential and work through challenges surfaced in the conversation. 3. Share diverse perspectives regarding the discrete priorities and/or changes needed from the IGF community to combat these challenges and harness opportunities.

For each of the areas of interest, introductory short presentations/remarks by experts will provide basic knowledge and discuss important trade-offs from their perspective. The moderator will ensure the active participation of the audience, who will be able to intervene and ask questions to the experts. Sufficient time will be given to online participants to ask questions, by the online moderator. Following these initial interventions, the roundtable will get to the heart of the debate, guided by the moderator who will begin by giving an opportunity to online and in-person participants to pose questions and discuss views on the perspectives presented. The moderator will guide the debate with the goal of finding common ground between views brought forward. In addition to the background documents and papers that will be prepared ahead of the IGF. Additional articles of interest, reference materials and social media conversations will be published and distributed ahead of the workshop. The moderator and organizing team will work with speakers in advance as to ensure the quality and content of the discussion.

Online Participation



Usage of IGF Official Tool. Additional Tools proposed: i. The online moderator will encourage remote participation through various social networking platforms in addition to the platform provided by the IGF Secretariat. After the first round of interventions, the discussion section of the roundtable will open up with an invitation to online participants to weigh in on strategies discussed and pose questions to the speakers. The organizing team will work to promote the activity on social media, and will specially invite relevant stakeholder to join the session and share questions ahead of the debate. Online participants will be given priority to speak, and their participation will be encouraged by the online and in-person moderators.