A Want or A Need? Digital Health Technologies and Their Role in Reshaping the Right to Health

The digital transformation of healthcare, while promising universal access and personalised care, threatens to create a new, technologically enforced hierarchy of health rights. This paper argues that digital health technologies have shifted from a luxury to a necessity for realising the fundamental right to health. However, the rapid digital transformation introduces a critical paradox: digital health tools, designed to bridge gaps in healthcare, risk exacerbating inequalities through the digital divide. Algorithmic biases, infrastructural gaps, and disparities in digital literacy can systematically exclude vulnerable populations, creating a vicious cycle where unrepresentative data leads to biased technologies that further harm the marginalised. To navigate this paradox, this paper proposes a human rights-based framework centred on three key principles: Provision, Participation, and Protection (3P). This framework moves beyond mere connectivity to demand equitable access to digital tools (Provision), meaningful involvement in the design and governance of the digital healthcare system (Participation), and robust safeguards against data exploitation and algorithmic discrimination (Protection). By systematically integrating these rights into policy and design, the 3P framework offers a proactive measure to break the digital divide paradox. It ensures that the future digital healthcare advances health equity by design, fulfilling the right to the highest attainable standard of health for all in the digital age.