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Biography |
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Martine Berger, a medical doctor specialized in international public health, started her career as family practitioner in medical private practice in France. After a post grade degree in tropical medicine, she worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and another French NGO in Sudan, Ethiopia and Pakistan. She got her Master of Public Health in the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989 and was subsequently recruited by UNICEF Pakistan to develop health education and health promotion activities. She worked from 1994 to 2004 for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as its programme officer responsible for health, then as special advisor for public health and development. She was from November 2004 to August 2006 the Executive Secretary of the 4th External Review of the Special Programme on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and joined the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) in 2004 as senior health advisor, hence gradually focusing on policy advice on research for health. First as a member of the Swiss delegation to WHO and then as the representative of COHRED she was involved in the development of the WHO Health Research Strategy and of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPA). From 2007 to spring 2010, for COHRED, she led the project “Strengthening pharmaceutical innovation in Africa” in collaboration with NEPAD. She is currently the director of Health Innovation in Practice, an NGO based in Switzerland and dedicated to the promotion and utilisation of needs-based innovation for health. Her expertise and interests cover a range of issues relating to public health and development, needs-driven research for health, innovation and access to health services and products. She has a long experience in policy advice and in facilitating the policy dialogue between multiple actors from various backgrounds and cultures, emphasising the critical role of civil society in the protection and promotion of the right to health. She is also interested in health systems development and implementation, knowledge sharing, and gender.
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Abstract |
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Potential risks of using digital tools for health: the need for policy dialogue and safeguards |
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While digital health holds great promises for improving access of populations worldwide to health information and health care, many of those researching, developing and using digital health tools remain largely unaware of current policy debates that may adversely impact their work if ending up with the wrong conclusions and measures.
Health is not the only sector where the circulation of information on the internet gives rise to serious concerns with regard to its transparency, quality and reliability. But mismanaging health information and digital health tools has much further reaching consequences than in most other sectors. Digital health is also about accessibility and about ensuring the right to health for all. Well informed policy dialogues are needed for creating a supportive environment for digital health in developed and developing countries alike, and for putting in place the necessary safeguards at national, regional and international level.
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