Digital Technologies in the Humanitarian Context: DPH Plenary Session.

The panel will address the potential benefits and challenges in applying digital technologies to humanitarian scenarios. Key themes are (1) empowering the individual (or the beneficiary) and informal care-givers with knowledge tools to participate in decision-making related to one's own health (2) building capacity of healthcare professionals, at the point of care and across the continuum and levels of care (3) capturing, securing and sharing data from the field and institutions in order to better inform public health policy and the design of practices for the delivery of care and (4) aggregating data and new knowledge from the sector to accelerate the development of health technology. Some of the barriers to experiencing the benefits from digital technologies include ability to effectively reach the target groups; public perception: show them the benefits and allay fears arising from uncertainty and hence the need for empowerment, financing: funding for efforts to transition to digitally-enabled practices, incentives: mechanisms to encourage sharing resources that ensure use and hence the longevity of digital resources and governance: structures, regulatory practices and ethical guidelines to secure responsible use of digital resources and conserving privacy and common good.