Digital Public Health and Digital Health: twins or Neighbors? A data protection perspective

Has traditional medicine had its day? The need to redefine academic medicine

Digital public health has influenced how countries use health data for research and practice, how we deliver healthcare, and how health professionals monitor infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the international adoption of digital health interventions for public health aims. While some European countries were already advanced in digital health and digital public health before the pandemic, other nations took the opportunity to catch up. Internationally, governments introduced contact-tracing apps, telemedical services, digitally supported health promotion programs, nationally regulated medical apps, and education programs for citizens and experts to improve digital (health) literacy. The planned European Health Data Space will lift the level of digital public health in Europe once more. However, the maturity of digital public health among European countries varies drastically. While some are global leaders in digitalizing their health systems, others barely implemented the necessary infrastructure. But there is also a third perspective: Some countries that led Europe through the pandemic from a digital public health perspective started withdrawing from digitalizing their healthcare and health promotion and returning to “normal”. It is time to examine what this new “normal” post-pandemic means and how countries evolved. We will learn from the experience of 4 different European countries (Romania, Ireland, Slovenia, and Germany) how COVID-19 changed their health system and if digital public health is still applied now that the pandemic is officially over. The workshop's ultimate goal is to highlight and discuss which digital transformations in European health systems were permanent and whether or not Europe will continue to take a leading role in digital public health in the future. Each representative will have 10 minutes to contextualize their country's digital public health strategy before the pandemic (the old normal), their strategy to address the crisis, and how the country includes digital public health in its health system after the pandemic (the new normal). We will use the remaining 20 minutes of the workshop for a discussion between the speakers and the audience. Key messages • The COVID-19 crisis pushed Europe's digital public health transformation so that countries were enabled to use digital health data for improved healthcare and health promotion on a national level. • In order for the transformation to be sustainable, countries need to fundamentally rethink their health systems and make way for better digital innovation.

The potential of digital technology for improving the health of individuals, communities, and populations is unprecedented. Technological advancements empower individuals to engage in self-monitoring and self-management of their chronic conditions or health and well-being. There is an unparalleled opportunity to reform prevention, health promotion, and healthcare services with lower cost and better reach and accessibility. However, health technologies are often developed without supportive evidence or a user-centred design. This leads to a lack of long-term user engagement in digital public health interventions. Our workshop aims to facilitate a mutual understanding of the specific properties of digital public health tools by creating a space for discussing the various perspectives of such technologies. We want to start a conversation of essential steps for conceptualising, implementing, and evaluating needs-based and society-centred digital public health interventions to improve the acceptability and sustainability of such interventions in users. The workshop will address digital public health tools on different steps and describe the progression as an iterative approach to highlight where these aspects are linked. The first speaker will provide a theory-guided overview of digitalisation in health to create a shared understanding of the terminology for the workshop. This includes the differentiation between digital health and digital public health. The talk will highlight the importance of digital tools for surveillance, monitoring, healthcare, health promotion, and their significant meaning for society. Following this input, the other panellists will guide us through different aspects of digital public health tools: The second speaker will discuss the importance of society-centred designs based on users’ needs rather than on technological advancements for interventions. Our third speaker will present a meta-framework of extended criteria for developing and evaluating digital technologies for public health. The fourth panellist will share Malta's COVID-19 contact tracing app as a case study. He will discuss the challenges and facilitators in implementing and evaluating digital public health interventions. The last presentation will cover the need for governmental support in the future to ensure the success of digital public health interventions and holistic systems. The workshop will take place as a round table discussion. Each panellist will give a short (7 minute) input talk on the specific properties of digital public health tools. After the panellists present their opinion, we will open the floor for a discussion. Here, the audience is invited to share their knowledge and experiences to build a mutual understanding of the crucial steps in digital public health interventions. After the workshop, we will create a white paper on digital public health based on the panellists’ input and the discussion results. Key messages • A mutual understanding of digital public health may facilitate public sector cooperation and aim towards needs-based and society-centred technology development to improve the population's health. • Digital public health offers unique challenges, and there is an opportunity to outline these specific nuances to ensure maximum success in implementing such projects.

Rapid developments and implementation of digital technologies in public health domains throughout the last decades have changed the landscape of health delivery and disease prevention globally. Many countries introduce digital interventions to their health systems to improve their populations’ health and make access to health care more accessible. Despite multiple definitions for digital public health and the development of different digital interventions, no study has analysed whether the used technologies fit the definition and the core characteristics of digital public health interventions. Digital public health for us means using digital tools to achieve public health goals. We conducted a scoping review to map the characteristics of digital public health interventions, see how the understanding of specific interventions differs between countries, and how they fit in the theoretical framework of digital public health definitions. Our review is the first to display the landscape of worldwide existing digital public health interventions that use information- and communication technologies. The study’s protocol was published in March 2022 in JMIR Research Protocols (DOI 10.2196/33404). We searched five databases (PubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL, Ieee, and ACM) for publications. Given the broad search string, we retrieved 13,869 results screened for eligibility. A total of 1,429 publications were included for full-text screening. The study showed that the terms for specific interventions are related to the context in which they are used. Scandinavian countries displayed a different understanding of electronic health records (EHRs) than South American countries. We also identified that the separation between digital health and digital public health is blurry in praxis. Although interventions such as EHRs target individuals to improve their health, the collected data can also be pooled to allow research and the development of interventions on a public health level.Key messages• When comparing interventions internationally, it’s best to compare based on the characteristics of the intervention rather than on the name.• Although, in theory, the distinguishment between digital health, digital public health, and public health became more precise in recent years, the practical reality between them remains still blurry.

Digital public health has influenced how healthcare is delivered and how health data is used for research and the monitoring of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a broader adoption of digital health interventions for public health purposes in several European countries. The European Union passed regulations to ensure data security and developed data hubs for international health data exchange to improve healthcare and public health research in the region. This chapter will present the essential European digital health and digital public health regulations (e.g., the General Data Protection Regulation). It will discuss the European Health Data Space and the importance of equitable access to digital public health interventions. This chapter will then analyze selected national perspectives through seven country case studies. These applied digital public health in various settings: through educational websites, patient portals, telemedicine, medical apps on prescription, infectious disease surveillance systems, and many more. By ensuring equitable access to these interventions and balancing investment in digital public health between populations with high levels of access and those with limited access, Europe can create a future where everyone can access quality health services, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.

Background Digital public health (DiPH) professionals are crucial for a successful digital transformation in social and health care. However, the extent to which academic professionals are taught DiPH-related content in their public health studies in Germany remains unclear. Methods We used a systematic module handbook analysis to assess accredited full-time public health-oriented degree programs at German Universities for DiPH-related modules. Programs were identified through the Hochschulkompass platform and among the German Public Health Association member programs. We used MAXQDA for the content analysis of the included module handbooks. Results We identified 79 public health programs. Of these, 10 Bachelor’s and 6 Master’s offered at least one DiPH module, all being highly heterogeneous in their overall addressed public health subfields. Regarding DiPH, 6 programs lectured on the ethics of digitalizing health and data protection, 5 programs each offered modules on DiPH in health policy, on data science in healthcare and software used for eHealth, or on the digital determinants of health. 4 programs each included modules on digital health promotion and alternative evaluation methods. 3 programs each addressed digital science communication and health technology assessment. Finally, 2 programs had modules on digital epidemiology. We found differences between the common understanding of DiPH in academia and the content in the module handbooks. The content identified in the analysis focused mainly on technical areas. Social and health science content was only marginally present. Conclusions The diverse DiPH study programs allow academic public health specialists in Germany to develop specific profiles. There is a need for further development of modules with relevance to the respective degree program to achieve comprehensive competencies in DiPH. We encourage the uptake of our analysis to develop a core curriculum in DiPH among European public health programs. Key messages • Digitalization affects all areas of life, including healthcare systems and public health. Preparing the future workforce already during their training is crucial to enable them to lead the change. • German public health programs are not fit to prepare students for their professions. Developing DiPH curricula with pre-defined and updated competencies will strengthen programs in Germany and beyond.

BackgroundRevealing the full potential of digital public health (DiPH) systems requires a wide-ranging tool to assess their maturity and readiness for emerging technologies. Although a variety of indices exist to assess digital health systems, questions arise about the inclusion of indicators of information and communications technology maturity and readiness, digital (health) literacy, and interest in DiPH tools by the society and workforce, as well as the maturity of the legal framework and the readiness of digitalized health systems. Existing tools frequently target one of these domains while overlooking the others. In addition, no review has yet holistically investigated the available national DiPH system maturity and readiness indicators using a multidisciplinary lens.ObjectiveWe used a narrative review to map the landscape of DiPH system maturity and readiness indicators published in the gray literature.MethodsAs original indicators were not published in scientific databases, we applied predefined search strings to the DuckDuckGo and Google search engines for 11 countries from all continents that had reached level 4 of 5 in the latest Global Digital Health Monitor evaluation. In addition, we searched the literature published by 19 international organizations for maturity and readiness indicators concerning DiPH.ResultsOf the 1484 identified references, 137 were included, and they yielded 15,806 indicators. We deemed 286 indicators from 90 references relevant for DiPH system maturity and readiness assessments. The majority of these indicators (133/286, 46.5%) had legal relevance (targeting big data and artificial intelligence regulation, cybersecurity, national DiPH strategies, or health data governance), and the smallest number of indicators (37/286, 12.9%) were related to social domains (focusing on internet use and access, digital literacy and digital health literacy, or the use of DiPH tools, smartphones, and computers). Another 14.3% (41/286) of indicators analyzed the information and communications technology infrastructure (such as workforce, electricity, internet, and smartphone availability or interoperability standards). The remaining 26.2% (75/286) of indicators described the degree to which DiPH was applied (including health data architecture, storage, and access; the implementation of DiPH interventions; or the existence of interventions promoting health literacy and digital inclusion).ConclusionsOur work is the first to conduct a multidisciplinary analysis of the gray literature on DiPH maturity and readiness assessments. Although new methods for systematically researching gray literature are needed, our study holds the potential to develop more comprehensive tools for DiPH system assessments. We contributed toward a more holistic understanding of DiPH. Further examination is required to analyze the suitability and applicability of all identified indicators in diverse health care settings. By developing a standardized method to assess DiPH system maturity and readiness, we aim to foster informed decision-making among health care planners and practitioners to improve resource distribution and continue to drive innovation in health care delivery.

The World Health Assembly Resolution on Digital Health unanimously approved by WHO Member States in May 2018 demonstrated a collective recognition of the value of digital technologies to contribute to advancing universal health coverage (UHC) and other health aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization has just released first ever guideline on digital interventions for health system strengthening. Et the European level, in June 2018 the WHO Regional Office for Europe launched the WHO/Europe initiative for Digitalization of Health Systems and in February 2019 organized the first Symposium on the Future of Digital Health Systems in the European Region. The European Commission in April 2018 published a Communication on Digital transformation of health and care in the digital single market and requested the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in health (EXPH) to release an evidence-based opinion on how to assess the impact of digital transformation of health services. In such context, the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) has at an early stage acknowledged and understood the crucial importance of applying the potential offered by digitalization to public health. Not only its most prominent members work and research as WHO and EC experts on how to plan, implement and evaluate effective digital public health interventions, but EUPHA itself - as umbrella organization representing public health associations and institutes across Europe had: i) actively participated to the WHO Euro Symposium successfully co-organizing a session on the ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health, ii) supported the publication of a EJPH supplement on digital health and iii) has planned to create a EUPHA Section on Digital Health. With the overall goal of positioning the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health in the enriching and constructive context of the European Public Health Conference the workshop specifically aims to: present a comprehensive conceptual framework for the application of digital technologies to public health in Europe;present and report on EUPHA collaborative action on digital health, aligned with European institutions;present the structure and content of the EJPH supplement on digital health;present the general aim, specific objectives, scope, mission and preliminary outputs of the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health, as well as its synergy with other EUPHA’s Section workPresent the results of two/three specific projects on digital public health to serve as concrete examples of the application of digital solutions to public healthEngage with the audience to promote the active participation of the broader EUPHA community to the activities of the Section, collect interests and best practices, and share ideas and projects worth scaling up at the Section-level. Key messages The ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health has to be concretely planned, implemented and evaluated. EUPHA action on digital public health can be further strengthened through the collaborative action and work of its dedicated Section.

Digital health is a crucial field for healthcare sustainability and adequate response to emerging health challenges. It has potential to increase efficiency in public health areas, such as surveillance, communication, data analysis and visualization, planning and collaboration. While the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of healthcare, a structured and planned approach is needed to ensure its sustainable and equitable integration in healthcare. Capacity building in digital literacy plays a key role to ensure an adequate implementation of digital public health. Moreover, the application of digital health solutions in public health services requires a proper training for students, young professionals, and public health experts. To fulfil this, education on digital health should be fully integrated in medical and public health curricula. Our workshop aims to discuss the potential of digital health technologies for public health services and identify proposals for a renewed digital public health curriculum. In this workshop, we will present a summary of potential uses of digital health in public health, focusing advances developed during COVID-19 pandemic. This introduction will provide a background for participants to be aware of digital health solutions, from basic digital services to innovations, that are applicable in public health practice. Panellists will share both local and national experiences. Although there are some examples of digital health updated curricula, a more comprehensive and structured approach to public health training is needed. Digital public health education should include specific topics, such as capacity building, opportunities for youth, and an ethics-driven approach. However, it should be tailored for public health students and professionals needs, which are certainly different. A short presentation will provide a guiding framework for participants to discuss the topic. Following, during small group discussions, workshop participants will share perspectives and suggestions for an updated digital public health curricula, including different approaches for both undergraduate students, public health residents and public health experts. In this round table discussion, one panelist will present a summary of potential uses of digital health in public health (10 minutes). The following presentation will cover main concerns that digital public health education should consider, particularly for young professionals (10 minutes). Following, participants will be asked to discuss in 3 to 6 small groups which topics should be included in curricula and training opportunities in medical schools, public health schools and public health services (20 minutes). Finally, each group will briefly present their conclusions (15 minutes), which will be highlighted in a wrap-up conclusion (5 minutes). We intend to keep in touch with all participants, in order to develop a concrete proposal for digital health education curricula.Key messages Digital health has potential to increase efficiency in multiple public health areas and digital health education is a key step to ensure its implementation in public health schools and services.COVID-19 accelerated the digitalization in public health, but a planned approach is needed to guarantee adequate training for students and professionals.

ZusammenfassungDie rasante Entwicklung neuer digitaler Technologien hat nicht nur die medizinische Praxis verändert, sondern bietet auch große Chancen und Herausforderungen für Public Health, insbesondere in Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention.Gleichzeitig ist dieses neue Feld auch gekennzeichnet durch begriffliche und konzeptuelle Unschärfen, einen bemerkenswerten Mangel an qualitativ hochwertiger Evidenz sowie eine fehlende Diskussion von unerwünschten Effekten und Begleiterscheinungen. Eine weitere Herausforderung liegt darin, dass die Entwicklung von Technologien aktuell durch den technologischen Fortschritt und weniger durch evidenzbasierte und evidenzorientierte Forschung vorangetrieben wird.In diesem Überblicksartikel wird das Feld „Digital Public Health“ konzeptuell beschrieben und anhand von grundlegenden Public-Health-Funktionen als Anforderungsprofil definiert. Wir diskutieren einige Beispiele, wie digitale Technologien aktuell zur Erfüllung von Public-Health-Aufgaben genutzt werden, und schlagen eine bedarfsorientierte Entwicklung von digitalen Gesundheitstechnologien vor.Wir gehen außerdem auf spezifische Herausforderungen, insbesondere sozioökonomische Unterschiede in der Nutzung und in den Effekten von digitalen Gesundheitstechnologien, sowie Datenschutz- und ethische Aspekte ein.

The rapid proliferation of digital technologies in health and public health has led to various terms and concepts, often used interchangeably or inconsistently. This ambiguity hampers communication, complicates research efforts, and undermines the effectiveness and adaptation of interventions. Without a clear understanding of such concepts, stakeholders face difficulties using, evaluating, and regulating digital public health (DiPH) initiatives. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish a common language - across academic disciplines and in the science-to-practice/policy transfer - to foster collaboration, ensure accountability, and maximize the impact of DiPH interventions globally. This workshop highlights the need for a cross-sectoral understanding of terms and concepts related to DiPH interventions. For this, we identify effective strategies for engaging diverse populations in DiPH interventions, considering accessibility, usability, and cultural sensitivity. Additionally, we present how a more precise understanding of these concepts will impact positive population-health outcomes of DiPH interventions. Finally, we discuss DiPH terminology enhancement regarding data protection, highlighting the boundaries of digital interventions within and outside health policies and public health systems, given the diversity of the legal frameworks applicable in either case. We aim to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange, fostering a shared understanding of terminology and best practices. This will advance DiPH by promoting clarity, rigor, and transparency in research and practice. Shared understandings of key concepts will eventually enhance the design, implementation, and evaluation of DiPH interventions, leading to improved population health outcomes and informing evidence-based policymaking and regulatory frameworks. The workshop consists of four presentations and a 20-minute panel discussion on increasing understanding dissemination. The first talk highlights multi-stakeholder perspectives (including researchers, technicians, health and medical practitioners, and the general public) on the ever-changing terminology of DiPH concepts. The second presentation showcases how these varying perceptions influence the academic representation of DiPH interventions and that interventions - although summarized under the same terminology - drastically vary concerning their use case and characteristics. The third speaker will discuss why a clearer understanding of these terms is needed to increase engagement with DiPH interventions for positive population health outcomes and identify effective DiPH interventions based on evidence. The last talk explains why unclear terminology or standards threaten populations and result in over- or under-regulation of DiPH interventions. Overall, this workshop catalyzes advancing the DiPH agenda in Europe, empowering stakeholders to harness the full potential of technology for promoting population health. Key messages • When we create technical terms, it is our professional approach, characterized by our academic background. It does not necessarily transfer to other domains or the general population. • Digital Public Health can transform global healthcare. However clear & harmonized terminologies are crucial for comparing evolving technologies & paving the way for transformative digital healthcare.

Europe is facing two major structural changes: the climate crisis, having a significant impact on public health, and digitalization of the economy, that could play a role in mitigating climate change and its impacts on public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives in many ways including how we see public health, the climate change and has created the conditions for the almost exponential growth for telemedicine and digitalization in healthcare. Underlining that the world is facing an increasing innovation and integration of digital tools to address public health and environmental problems, as the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of the World Health Organization both declared that we are currently fighting a climate “pandemic” in the same way as we are fighting COVID-19. Digital solutions have been implemented to address COVID-19 and impacted by reducing CO2 emissions and improving quality of life. Digital systems, including Artificial Intelligence, robots and drones, are now changing the paradigm of public health and environment management. Due to the complex nature of the information ecosystem our societies and communities live in, a digital public health approach can be managed to reduce harm to individual, community and population health, support social cohesion and trust in emergency response and interventions to deal with climate change. Digital health could, within 10 years establish a new paradigm in public and environmental health. Public health professionals need urgently to tackle digital health to bridge the gap with others areas of healthcare. During the COVID-19 crisis, national public health authorities have been challenged in the way they communicate with the public, engage with communities in collecting data to improve response, providing the scientific evidence, the day-to-day facts and figures. Likewise, The European Climate Pact provides a space for collectively develop and implement climate solutions. The Climate Pact is an open, inclusive and evolving initiative for climate action through an online platform and citizen dialogues and exchanges, it will foster the link between the digital and green transition. This workshop aims to share the experiences of digital public health interventions with significant impact on climate change mitigation during the pandemic. It will be organised as a round table, starting by setting the scene with an introduction to key digital health concepts and challenges. Each speaker will give a short pitch on how they have experienced the challenge of using digital systems in public health and how they approached its management during the crisis. This will be followed by a panel discussion. Participants will have ample time to ask questions to the panellists. The workshop will end with a summary of a selection of tools participants can use in their own environmental management activities and key take home messages from the panellist will be provided as a conclusion.Key messages Digital Public Health has been establishing evidence on interventions with significant effects on reducing the impact of climate crisis.A Partnership is needed across the health system and society to manage this crisis. European Green Deal and Climate Pact could be used as a roadmap in digital public health.

The expansion of digital public health, with the use of data in digital systems for planning and operation of public health policy, presents itself as strategic for the public and digital future of Public Health Systems, such as Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde/SUS, as well as for the effectiveness of the right to healthcare and expansion of the access to public health services (with the experience of COVID-19 highlighting the importance of digital health, as well as fostering its accelerated expansion). Such digital expansion will increasingly stress the fundamental right to the protection of personal data, and it is therefore important to strengthen the regulatory and care response of SUS in the field of digital public health, both for the preservation of its regulatory capacity in digital public health (facing market private interests of Big Tech for example), but also to guarantee the protection of fundamental rights, such as the protection of personal data. The theory of fundamental rights and the dogmatics on personal data protection offer support to solve the tensions to the right to data protection arising from the expansion of digital health, with consideration between the rights of patients-data subjects and the needs of managing and planning public health policyKey messages• The intense use of data and digital systems in public health policy is strategic to strengthen public health systems.• The enhancement of Public Health Systems’ regulatory capacity in digital transformation is important to protect right to health and data protection.

Digitalization was accelerated to address the access, safety and quality needs of health professionals and citizens during care provision in the presence of human, animal and environmental vectors of pandemic infections. Digital transformation will harness cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), data networks and personalized digital agents, sensors, and visualization tools to monitor and enhance the care of individuals, populations and communities. A sociotechnical, multidisciplinary, and enterprise-wide approach is essential to improve the quintuple aims of cost-effectiveness, provider and patient well-being, and equity. Digitally competent health professionals and digitally mature health organizations are necessary to produce and use high-quality interoperable digital data and technologies to improve decisions and practice. The maturity of five essential digital health foundations (infrastructure, tools/agents, readiness to share information, enablers of trust and adoption, and quality improvement) is assessed across the micro–meso–macro continuum. The Digital Health Profile and Maturity Assessment Toolkit Maturity Model illustrates a sociotechnical capability maturity approach to assess how organizations manage, govern, improve, and sustain the ethical and safe production, use and sharing of digital health tools and data in the real world. The linkage and convergence of real-word data (RWD) from public health, clinical and managerial practice highlights potential cost-efficiencies in integrated data collection, reporting, aggregation, analysis, and use. Challenges include access, quality, and interoperability of RWD and tools. AI-driven data analytics is increasingly being used, despite misgivings about trustworthiness, biases and fairness of software agents, algorithms, and training data sets. The sociotechnical approach emphasizes leadership, inclusive governance, mutual trust, and reciprocity within a cocreation paradigm; communities of learning and practice operating within regulatory frameworks that promote quality, safety, and equitable access to digital tools and data; quality improvement and professional development programs aimed to improve digital health maturity; and science and digital health diplomacy to harmonize the multiplicity of actors and technology in digital public health ecosystems and global supply chains. Learning organizations that “think small and big simultaneously” within a standards-based cocreation paradigm will create the digital assets and social capital necessary for the national and global digital public health enterprise.

Europe is facing several health challenges and public health plays an important role in it. However, to address the increasing demand for public health services, public health institutions need to tackle digitalization in a proper and evidence-based way. Digital health comprises both an organizational and a technological component. While the technological one has been widely addressed, the organizational one got little attention so far. This is due to a lack of knowledge regarding the understanding of the new role of organizations that provide digital health services. Public health is a field deeply dependent on data and with an important opportunity to leverage information technology. Digital health could, within 10 years establish a new paradigm in public health. The public health professionals need urgently to tackle digital health to bridge the gap with others areas of healthcare. Moreover, since public health is a multi-disciplinary activity we want to take the opportunity to debate digital public health with European experts from different fields of knowledge. Three presentations from the point of view of People, Technology and Services. Digital health should be addressed as an evidenced-based approach towards both improving health professionals performance and quality of life of patients. This workshop aims at: To create the momentum towards the proper use of digital technologies in public health by discussing the main challenges and opportunities for European Public Health.To establish a forum to discuss digital public health solutions based on evidence to better improve the adoption of these tools in the public health profession;To have a serious discussion after 3 presentations that will clarify the main challenges and opportunities;After de presentations, a debate will be guide to help identify the main challenges for digital public health in Europe; Key messages Public Health Digitalization is essential to address health inequalities in Europe. The workshop identifies what are the main priorities for a sustainable EU public Health digitalization. Mutual learning, knowledge and good practice exchange in using digital technology can be organised in various ways – we show practical current examples on how it has been done.