Health-care providers are increasingly using digital health technology (DHT) to enable patients
and the public to manage their health and engage with health-care systems; a process that
rapidly accelerated as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted services online. The uptake and
development of digital health systems has the potential for widespread benefits through more
efficient and targeted health care. Yet a focus on digital approaches may inadvertently widen
existing inequities in health if known inequalities in access, use and engagement with digital
technology are not considered and addressed. Equitable patient-centred approaches are at the
centre of the proposed action plan for digital health for the WHO European Region.
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