What is digital public health?
Public health has been adapting to the digital transformation of society since the early days of the Internet. In recent years the explosion of pandemic-related digital technologies, the rise of generative artificial intelligence, and the influence of big tech companies on health information (to name just a few issues) have brought a new urgency to how public health responds to these accelerating transformations. The term “digital public health” is increasingly used to describe this area, which includes but goes beyond the application of digital technologies in public health practice. The scope of this field, and how public health practice, training and research moves forward in this field are ongoing questions.
Through our work and discussions with public health colleagues, we define digital public health as:
- Using digital technology to transform the delivery of public health functions in people-centered ways that optimize health outcomes for all.
- Bringing together expertise in health, technology and other disciplines to improve the health of populations, while addressing modern public health challenges that are amplified through the rapid and widespread uptake of digital technologies.
Digital public health includes:
- Using digital technologies to design, implement, evaluate, and scale-up interventions to address public health challenges and promote health equity.
- A wide range of digital technologies and applications, including data analytics, mobile health, social media, virtual health and others.
While there is overlap, we consider digital public health to be distinct from digital health which focuses on digital technologies and the provision of clinical care services to people to improve their health.