Digital violence, such as doxxing, deepfakes, and online harassment, poses significant public health risks. Nearly one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, exacerbated by digital vulnerabilities.
In crisis settings, these digital threats create multiple challenges:
Operational Risk and Misinformation: Digital attacks on women workers and journalists undermine credibility, damage risk communication efforts, and erode public trust in health messaging.Safety and Protection: Digital abuse compromises staff safety and limits women’s access to essential health services, straining already overburdened health systems.
Physical and Mental Trauma: Digital violence leads to physical harm and exacerbates psychological trauma, stressing mental health support systems.
This event highlights the need to integrate digital safety into humanitarian health responses, emphasizing its importance for emergency preparedness, protection, and resilient health systems.
Addressing digital violence supports WHO’s mandate for public health protection, inclusive digital health, ethical AI and gender-responsive emergency operations and positions WHO as a leader on gender, gender-based violence, digital safety, and emergency response.
Objectives of the webinar:
Raise awareness of digital and technology-facilitated violence (TF-VAWG) as a rising public health and protection issue in health emergencies.Highlight impacts of digital violence on access to essential services, staff safety, risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), mental health and psychological services (MHPSS), and trust in emergency response systems.Provide evidence-informed recommendations for integrating digital safety into emergency preparedness, response, and resilient health systems.Elevate survivor-centered, rights-based, and gender-responsive approaches in digital health and humanitarian operations.
Speakers:
Welcome/Opening remarks: Digital safety as a public health imperative in crises: a call to action from WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE): Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme
Preparedness begins with protection: why digital violence must be addressed in humanitarian health work, Dr Stella Chungong, Director, Department of Health Emergency Preparedness & Chair, WHE Gender Working Group
UNFPA perspective from Executive Director, UNFPA: delivered by Dr Eugene Kongyuy Deputy Director of Humanitarian Response Division to represent the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management: digital violence as a driver of misinformation, Dr Kai Von Harbou, Unit Head, Community Protection & Resilience, WHO
Keynote address: Ms Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women, its causes and consequences
Intervention from the field: Expert, Field responder (TBC)
Q&A