Foundations of Digital Health & Ethics

This specialization offers a comprehensive understanding of digital health, covering its global significance, historical evolution, and the technologies that drive transformation in healthcare, including telehealth, telemedicine, mHealth, eHealth, electronic health records, robotics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT, and big data. Learners will gain insights into strategies and approaches promoted by the World Health Organization and country-level initiatives, while also examining the opportunities, benefits, and challenges of digital transformation in healthcare systems worldwide, especially during and after the COVID-19 era. The course further explores the progression of healthcare from 1.0 to 5.0, highlighting innovations such as personalised medicine, cyber-physical systems, remote monitoring, robotic surgeries, and smart healthcare ecosystems, alongside ethical principles of trust, privacy, equity, inclusivity, transparency, and governance that guide responsible implementation, with particular emphasis on AI, data use, and global regulatory frameworks. By the end of the program, learners will be equipped to understand digital health comprehensively, evaluate its role in reshaping healthcare delivery, and know ethical frameworks to ensure its equitable and sustainable use across diverse contexts

• Understand foundations, evolution, key technologies, and WHO guidelines shaping digital health globally
• Analyze digital transformation benefits, challenges, and global responses during and after COVID-19
• Explore Healthcare 1.0–5.0 including cyber-physical systems and smart healthcare ecosystems
• Apply ethical principles, governance frameworks, and privacy measures in digital health technology

• Basic familiarity with the topic and terminology
• Willingness to engage in applied exercises or case-based work