The World Health Organization (WHO) and European Commission have announced a historic collaboration in digital health.
This month, WHO will adopt the European Union's (EU) digital COVID-19 certification system to establish a global system that facilitates cross-border mobility and protects people worldwide from present and future health threats, including pandemics.
The partnership builds upon the WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health and the EU Global Health Strategy, reinforcing a multilateral structure centred on WHO and led by the EU.
The EU's successful digital certification network, which has connected 80 countries and territories, serves as a global standard. The collaboration will leverage the European Commission's technological expertise to develop and implement the WHO's Global Digital Health Certifications Network (GDHCN) system.
Digital COVID-19 certifications have played a critical role in the EU's fight against the pandemic by promoting freedom of movement and enabling connections with non-EU countries. The worldwide WHO system will be launched in stages, with plans to expand its technology to support additional use cases such as digitising the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP).
The partnership is guided by shared values and principles such as equity, inclusion, responsibility, data protection, privacy, security, and global scalability.
Click here to read the original news story.