Digital health encompasses a wide range of novel digital
technologies related to health and medicine. Such technologies
rely on recent advances in the collection and
analysis of ever increasing amounts of data from both
patients and healthy citizens. Along with new opportunities,
however, come new ethical and policy challenges.
These range from the need to adapt current evidencebased
standards, to issues of privacy, oversight, accountability
and public trust as well as national and international
data governance and management. This review illustrates
key issues and challenges facing the rapidly unfolding digital
health paradigm and reflects on the impact of big data
in medical research and clinical practice both internationally
and in Switzerland. It concludes by emphasising five
conditions that will be crucial to fulfil in order to foster innovation
and fair benefit sharing in digital health