Digital Health and Human Rights Researchers Publish Findings on Right to Health of Young Adults in Bangladesh and Colombia

Members of OSUN's Digital Health and Rights Project at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Switzerland), with scholars from the James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University (Bangladesh), and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) have published important findings from their collaborative research on rights-based digital governance.

“The Digital Transformation and the Right to Health of Young Adults in Bangladesh and Colombia: A Community-Engaged Study” was included in November in the Health and Human Rights Journal produced by Harvard University. In the study, early-career researchers from Bangladesh and Colombia collaborated with a broad international research and advocacy project to investigate how diverse young adults experience digital health and to invite their recommendations and collaborative advocacy. Researchers held focus group discussions and interviews with mostly young men in Bangladesh and people living with HIV, gay men, and transgender women in Colombia.

In both countries, young adults said digital transformation (the integration of technologies and tools for health data management, telemedicine, and diagnosis into health systems) had transformed their access to sexual and reproductive health and HIV information, highlighting both the positive role of young social media influencers and the harms caused by misinformation, lack of confidentiality, and widespread stigma. The subjects called for greater government efforts to develop digital health, including through social media platforms.

“We find that transnational collaborations like this one offer the potential to generate actionable insights and inform the development of rights-based digital governance,” wrote the researchers.

Read the study at Health and Human Rights

Post Date: 12-17-2024