Over three-quarters of the world’s young people aged 0 to 24 years live in G20 countries. Investing in young people’s health is necessary to promote their lifelong health and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage. It is also critical for a nation’s overall socioeconomic development.
Digital transformations present a major opportunity to realize the right to health for everyone and strengthen health systems to become more responsive to current and future health priorities. But young digital technology users are also being exposed to a range of risks which can undermine their physical and mental health, development and well-being.
Governments are facing the dual challenge of ensuring that all people can benefit from the positive and health promoting aspects of digital transformations while protecting them from harms associated with technology use.
A coordinated approach to the digital determinants of health
Many of the health-related impacts of digital transformations—known collectively as the digital determinants of health—are taking place outside of the formal health sector and cannot be effectively addressed without multisectoral collaboration and action. The current disconnect between health governance and digital governance must be bridged.
Recent G20 presidencies have identified health, digitalization and investing in youth as priorities, however the initiatives introduced to take these agendas forward have been conducted in parallel. This siloed approach misses opportunities for multisectoral action to address the digital determinants of young people’s health and well-being. We urge G20 leaders, when they convene this year in Brazil and next year in South Africa, to establish an initiative to build digital environments that support equitable health outcomes for all young people.
Introducing a coordinated approach would give a strong mandate to health actors to enact a public health response to the opportunities and challenges of the broader digital transformation process alongside efforts to expand the benefits of digital health solutions.
Multisectoral dialogue and action is urgently required to build digital first health systems and digital environments that effectively support young people’s health and well-being. The Rio Summit presents an opportunity for G20 Leaders to connect the dots and take a holistic approach to digital health transformations.
Giving young people a say in their digital future
Despite critical inequities in their digital skills and access, young people are keen adopters of digital technologies and are already using them to support their health and well-being. Yet initiatives to digitally transform health systems often fail to consider young people as co-creators and users.
Across the globe, adolescents and young adults have voiced concerns about being sidelined in policymaking processes related to both health and digital transformations. Leading to distrust in data practices and the application of digital health technologies.
By investing in young people’s digital health futures and making both health and digital governance more participatory and inclusive, innovations in health and other sectors can contribute to more equitable health outcomes and enable the benefits of digital transformation to be distributed more fairly.
A clear statement from the G20 on the importance of meaningfully engaging young people in the co-creation of digital first health systems and in strengthening digital health governance would send a powerful message to policymakers and tech companies to invest in a new generation of digital health citizens.
An opportunity to promote young people’s health and well-being
As Brazil’s presidency culminates and South Africa prepares to take the baton, the G20 has a unique opportunity to promote young people’s health and well-being by prioritizing digital determinants of health and greater involvement of young people in digital health governance.
We urge G20 leaders, when they convene this year in Brazil and next year in South Africa, to establish an initiative to build digital environments that support equitable health outcomes for all young people.
Download our policy brief Healthy digital transformations: A call to G20 leaders to build health systems and digital environments that support better health and well-being for young people
Discover more about DTH-Lab:
Digital transformations are shaping all aspects of our lives, including health. Digital innovations can help to improve young people’s health and well-being and achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through their application in health systems, public health promotion and prevention, and personal self-management of health status and behaviours. Without good governance, digital transformations can undermine health and exacerbate inequality. As levels of connectivity increase, concerted efforts are required to ensure that digital technologies are harnessed in support of better health and well-being for all and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The DTH-Lab is a global consortium of partners working to drive implementation of The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030’s recommendations for value-based digital transformations for health co-created with young people.
