Tag: Digital Health

On November 27 2017, in response to the white paper published by the Committee of Experts on Data Protection Framework for India, we recommended that data protection law encompass health data protection; systems that ensure privacy by design will fare better than systems based on consent and notice; data portability be interpreted as portability of structured health data; anonymization and aggregation over de-identification for securing data; and fiduciary responsibility of data controllers to the individual.

In a roadmap published in the Journal of Internet Medical Research, we proposed a federated, patient-centric, and application programming interface (API)–enabled health information ecosystem that enables the exchange of health information in conformity with India’s evolving data protection and privacy laws. Our proposed model has been adopted and implemented by policymakers in India — first by the NITI Aayog in its approach paper for the National Health Stack, and then by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its National Digital Health Blueprint.

The IDHN White Papers are an ongoing series of publications that respond to India’s evolving digital health ecosystem architecture and data protection laws. Our papers have helped shape the patient-centric federated API-enabled architecture of India’s evolving digital health platforms.

Our team at the India Digital Health Net is studying the Indian ministry of health’s non-communicable disease screening and management digital tool, targeting 100 million households, to optimize design choices to improve physician and patient uptake and satisfaction.

The Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest mass gathering, where tens of millions congregate at one of four holy sites in India during a several week-long festival. The government builds an ephemeral city — replete with roads, sanitation, and power — in which religious groups and small business provide food, shelter, sermons, and entertainment for the visiting pilgrims. In 2013, Harvard University sent a multi-disciplinary research team of faculty and students with backgrounds in theology, urban planning, public health, and business to study the world’s largest mass gathering.