Governance Mechanisms for Access and Use of Data in Public Health Crises: Call for Action

Abstract

The Covid 19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of access to data to ensure that authorities can make informed decisions in the event of a crisis. However, there are currently three types of barriers preventing access and use of data: technical barriers, especially the lack of uniform data formats and semantics; legal barriers, especially data protection that limits the use of personal data; and societal barriers, especially the lack of data literacy and trust. This call for action presents ways to overcome these barriers and pro- poses new governance mechanisms for the access and use of data in public health crises.