Delegates and youth call for equitable digital health, protections against tech‑facilitated harm at ECOSOC SDG3 session

In a plenary focused on Sustainable Development Goal 3 (health), youth leaders, United Nations agencies and member‑state representatives urged that digital health be treated as a public good, called for expanded digital literacy and coherent regulatory safeguards, and warned that new technologies are already enabling harms from misinformation to synthetic imagery used in technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence.

Marina Al Kawan, founder of Meddonations, described how a single social‑media post in the wake of the 2020 Beirut explosions helped secure life‑saving medication and inspired a volunteer network. “One post, one click can truly save a life,” she told the forum. She said Meddonations has since mobilized more than 2,500 donors across 65 countries and helped secure medicines for roughly 20,000 people in Lebanon and beyond, and announced a free health‑tech clinic in Lebanon that will use AI and digital tools to expand access.

Speakers from U.N. agencies described practical programming that…