Davos
Manuscrit, non publié à l’époque. Seul le prononcé fait foi. Les notes de travail ont été retirées.
Discours prononcé en anglais. Texte original, non traduit.
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure and an honour for me to launch this discussion about health data.
I am convinced of the value and power of reliable, good quality data.
And I am very pleased that in October, Switzerland will be hosting the UN World Data Forum in Bern.
Its goal is to improve our use of data and statistics to achieve the vision of a better future for people and the planet,
set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Digital transformation is one of the most important challenges facing our health systems.
It offers huge opportunities.
In terms of service quality,
patient safety,
efficiency and cost control
or in terms of doctor-patient relations.
Digital transformation is happening here and now.
There are currently over 300,000 mobile health apps out there. And that number is rising by the day.
But for most of them we don’t know, if they are effective and safe.
We are lacking evidence.
In this hype, it is a big challenge for society to find out where the real potential is.
Digital transformation in the health care sector presents us with a host of difficult questions.
For example lifestyle optimisation:
How do the pressures of self-optimisation affect those of us who aren’t able to achieve 10,000 steps a day?
Or data that reveal an elevated risk of possible diseases:
How do we deal with such data?
How does knowledge about dispositions affect our understanding of health and sickness? And who pays for preventive treatment?
These are questions of ethics and solidarity.
Questions that we can’t simply put off.
Because we are all aware of demographic pressures and the rise in healthcare costs.
Modern health systems generate mountains of electronic data.
It would be wrong not to use it to create new knowledge on health and diseases.
Ladies and gentlemen
In my view there are three main questions, we should be able to answer:
First: In order for it to succeed, we need to promote digital skills. It’s not enough just to have more and more data; we also have to know how to use them effectively.
How can we foster digital and health literacy among all actors and stakeholders including the public?
And how can we make sure that individuals with a lower health competence are not left behind?
Second:
We need to have good data, and be able to manage and share them safely. Common standards can facilitate cross-border cooperation.
Initiatives like the Global Digital Health Partnership as well as international organisations like the OECD and the WHO can help us in this regard.
How can we work together, across jurisdictions, to enable greater harmonisation in the way health data are generated and deployed?
And thirdly, probably the biggest issue here: Trust
Trust is a decisive factor for success – for data are valuable and sensitive.
We have to work well together with tech firms. Without them, we simply cannot implement digital health projects.
Only if the actors involved are able to trust that state institutions will protect their rights, will they be willing to participate in this digital transformation.
It is therefore paramount that we ensure adequate data protection as well as a culture of transparency.
How is it possible to partner with tech companies
to advance policy objectives of better clinical care and research,
while preserving public trust and patients’ privacy?
What have been the successful ways of building trust with other relevant stakeholders like hospitals or health insurances?
Ladies and gentlemen
I am convinced that with a better use of health data we can make our health systems stronger. For the benefit of all of us.
In order to succeed we have to develop digital competencies
and to build trust and cooperation.
As individuals, and as a society, we all have a strong interest in seeing digital transformation succeed in the health sector.