[Development and applications of digital public health].

ABSTRACT

Rapidly upgraded digital technology has impacted all walks of life, and public health field is also undergoing a digital transformation. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the wide use of digital technology in the prevention and control of infectious diseases, greatly enhancing the capacity of public health system in emergency response and routine disease prevention and control. This article summarizes the definition of digital public health, applications of digital technology in the prevention and control of infectious diseases and chronic non-communicable diseases, as well as in public health surveillance, discusses the challenges in the development of digital public health and introduces the eight principles for digital transformation of public health proposed by the Pan American Health Organization.