Autonomous Health Movements: Criminalization, De-Medicalization, and Community-Based Direct Action

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 85 – 98 PDF Naomi Braine Abstract This paper proposes the concept of autonomous health movements, drawing on an analysis of harm reduction in the United States and self-managed abortion globally. Harm reduction and self-managed abortion appear in the professional literature largely as evidenced-based public health strategies, more than as social movements. However, each began at the margins of the law as a form of…

VIEWPOINT The Human Rights Challenges of Digital COVID-19 Surveillance

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp. 79 – 83 PDF Akarsh Venkatasubramanian Digital technologies offer huge potential to improve the accuracy, breadth, reliability, and speed of contact tracing and other public health surveillance measures. However, in the absence of appropriate global governance frameworks, the usage of digital technologies during health emergencies presents multidimensional challenges. The article by Sharifah Sekalala and colleagues in this issue analyzes the human rights implications of tools…

VIEWPOINT An Invitation to a Feminist Approach to Global Health Data

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp. 75 -78 PDF Shirin Heidari and Heather Doyle The notable gendered socioeconomic, health, and human rights implications of COVID-19 have sparked a renewed conversation on gender data gaps and the risks of gender-blind responses that ignore structural determinants of health and undermine social justice goals.1 Higher mortality among men, disproportionate social, economic, and health effects on ethnic and racial minorities, high infection rates among the…

VIEWPOINT Participatory Machine Learning Using Community-Based System Dynamics

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 71 – 74 PDF Vinodkumar Prabhakaran and Donald Martin Jr. The pervasive digitization of health data, aided with advancements in machine learning (ML) techniques, has triggered an exponential growth in the research and development of ML applications in health, especially in areas such as drug discovery, clinical diagnosis, and public health.[1] A growing body of research has shown evidence that ML techniques, if unchecked, have…

VIEWPOINT From Information to Valuable Asset: The Commercialization of Health Data as a Human Rights Issue

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp. 67 – 70 PDF Amy Dickens Health data is a valuable source of knowledge that states can use to advance or undermine the right to health. But the sources and use of health data are changing in our emerging global data economy. Novel forms of digitized health information are fueling a booming industry for algorithmic technologies in health care, rendering it a huge source of…

VIEWPOINT Technology, Health, and Human Rights: A Cautionary Tale for the Post-Pandemic World

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 63 – 66 PDF Rajat Khosla Technology is widely known for moving fast and breaking things, to paraphrase Mark Zuckerberg. Indeed, technology is fast moving into each and every aspect of our life, especially our health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how technology can and should play an important role in helping stop the spread of the disease, including by disseminating public health…

PERSPECTIVE A Health Rights Impact Assessment Guide for Artificial Intelligence Projects

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 55 -62 PDF Carmel Williams Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is being hailed by various actors, including United Nations agencies, as having the potential to alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[1] Many AI projects are promoted as making important contributions to health care and to reducing global and national health inequities. However, one of the risks of AI-driven health projects…

PERSPECTIVE Health in the Digital Age: Where Do Children’s Rights Fit In?

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 49 -54 PDF Louise Holly Introduction The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, adopted in 1948, proclaims that children and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. Almost four decades later, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was developed to provide further guidance on the full spectrum of rights that children—defined as people under the age of 18 years—are entitled…

PERSPECTIVE The Trojan Horse: Digital Health, Human Rights, and Global Health Governance

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 41 – 48 PDF Sara L. M. Davis The COVID-19 pandemic has massively accelerated a global shift toward new digital technologies in health, a trend underway before the crisis. In response to the pandemic, many countries are rapidly scaling up the use of new digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI) for tasks ranging from digital contact tracing, to diagnosis, to health information management, to the…

PERSPECTIVE Digital Phenotyping and Digital Psychotropic Drugs: Mental Health Surveillance Tools That Threaten Human Rights

Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 33 – 40 PDF Lisa Cosgrove, Justin M. Karter, Mallaigh Mcginley, and Zenobia Morrill Introduction Digital technologies and tools hold much promise. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how helpful telehealth platforms and mental health applications (apps) can be in a time of quarantine and social distancing. However, such technologies also pose risks to human rights at both the individual and population levels. For…