G L O B A L I N I T I A T I V E
Using a strong foundation of evidence and resources, the Health Data Collaborative will achieve a measurable impact on health information systems strengthening in countries using three core strategies:
- coordination and alignment
- innovation and new technology
- capacity building
Together, these three areas will contribute to greater alignment amongst donors and partners with national Monitoring and Evaluation plans, increase country capacity to introduce new technologies at a national and subnational level, and build sustained institutional capacity for data collection, reporting and use.
- strengthen country capacity to plan, implement, monitor and review progress and standardized processes for data collection, availability, analysis and use to achieve national health related targets (and therefore eventual SDG health targets);
- improve efficiency and alignment of technical and financial investments in health data systems through collective actions;
- increase the impact of global public goods and tools on country health data systems through increased sharing, learning and country engagement.
Dr. Marie Donaldson currently serves as co-chair of the HDC’s Digital Data and Governance (DDG) Working Group. The DDG Working Group was formed in December 2019 out of the HDC’s Digital Health and Interoperability (DH&I) Working Group. The DDG WG strives to address growing opportunities in digital and data governance with stewardship and a body to facilitate coordinated advocacy.
The purpose of the DDG WG is to champion the inclusion of digital and data governance as a priority investment as well as provide mechanisms for sharing, troubleshooting, and co-creating ideas and solutions to challenges in the for better governance of health data and the digital technologies that processes it they enable.
HDC’s Digital Data and Governance (DDG) Working Group aims to establish the processes and responsibilities that ensure the quality, security and equity of the data and digital tools in the sector through the following proposed objectives:
- To develop best practice principles, recommendations, and toolkits for to be used in the implementation of data and digital health governance by national governments, alliances, and WG member organizations.
- To develop a repository that serves to support knowledge sharing in shared priority areas of the working group members; will include templates, model policies, and standards that community members can contribute to and use.
- To serve as an advocacy accelerator for the larger HDC, supporting translation of technical needs into recommendations, identifying and responding to (e.g. COVID-19), building connections to digital and data governance leadership and venues in the global health community, and promoting the overarching priorities of the WG membership.
Health Data Governance Principles
Protect people, promote health value, and prioritize equity
The most recent product from the Digital Data and Governance Working Group, in collaboration with Transform Health, is the Health Data Governance Principles. The eight Principles consist of three interconnected objectives: Protect people, Promote health value and Prioritize equity. The Principles aim to bring a human rights and equity lens to the use of data within and across health systems with the orientation for delivery of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The Principles provide adaptive user guides and toolkits based on industry to inform the development of health data governance frameworks and guidance that can be incorporated into national standards, legislation and organizational policies related to health data. The Principles have been endorsed by 97 organizations, governments and other stakeholders to date, including CUNY CIRGH.