World Health Organization (WHO) Delegation Briefing on Digital Health | May 11, 2022

About the event

On May 11, Dr. Garrett Mehl, Andy Pattison, and Dr. John Grove of the World Health Organization gave a briefing co-hosted by the Bay Area Global Health Alliance and UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences. The briefing focused on the WHO’s Science Division, norms and standards for quality assurance, priorities for digital health and innovation, and guidance on health information-sharing through digital channels.

Watch the recording:

• “Evidence is coming forward all the time, and we really need to rewire the system to be able to handle that much more appropriately,” said Dr. John Grove in his discussion of a ‘living’ approach, which enables the WHO to get a better sense of the evidence that is coming from the upstream and develop health guidelines at a much faster pace in practical formats.

• “We are trying to ensure that countries have the capacity, the technical tools, the guidance, coordinated technical support, and financing to ensure that they are able to successfully adopt, leverage, and bring innovations as well as digital health approaches to bear, to strengthen their health systems,” said Dr. Garrett Mehl when describing the key objectives of the WHO’s Digital Health & Innovations department.

• “When it comes to delivering content in people’s digital journeys, it’s important that we reach them in the palm of their hands, but also in the language which they are used to … It’s not just English, French, and German … If they are following influencers, they want to hear the voice rather than the language of the person,” said Andy Pattison, emphasizing the importance of tailoring health messages to people of different ages, ethnicities, and interest groups.