In the digital era, human rights face emerging challenges and opportunities that directly affect health, dignity, and well-being. This MOOC, entitled “Rights and Health in the Digital Era: Protection and Advocacy,” offers a structured learning pathway through the core concepts of digital human rights, their international legal and normative frameworks, their intersections with digital health, and advocacy strategies for their protection.

Rights and Health in the Digital Age:Protection and Advocacy

What you'll learn
Recognize and analyze digital rights as human rights, identifying their implications in the field of health.
Explore international guidelines, principles, and legal developments related to digital rights and digital health.
Analyze real-life case studies to identify advocacy strategies that respond to violations of digital rights in Global South contexts.
Identify digital security as a tool for the protection of privacy, recognizing its scope and limitations.
Details to know
February 2026
6 assignments
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

There are 5 modules in this course
This introductory module lays the groundwork for understanding digital rights as an extension of human rights within technology-driven contexts. Across three lessons, it examines key conceptual foundations and their relevance to people’s health, well-being and dignity. The module explores the main challenges emerging in the digital era, as well as the opportunities it creates for civic engagement and the democratisation of knowledge. It also looks at how digital transformation is reshaping access to healthcare, highlighting both its potential advantages and the ethical risks involved. Through the use of interactive resources, infographics and global case studies, the module encourages a critical and context-aware approach to the relationship between technology, health and human rights. In doing so, it lays the foundation for informed participation and effective advocacy in the defence of rights within digital environments.
What's included
3 videos11 readings
This module provides conceptual and normative tools to understand and defend digital rights within the health sector. Through three lessons, it explores international guidelines, principles and legal developments that safeguard human rights in digital environments, examining how these frameworks are applied to digital health from a critical and context-aware perspective. Key concepts are explored in greater depth through an interactive decalogue that functions as a specialised glossary, supporting the appropriate use of terminology and strengthening advocacy capacity. The module also addresses the classification of digital health technologies, analysing their legal, ethical and social implications in light of international standards, including those proposed by the World Health Organization. By combining audiovisual resources, interactive materials and case studies, this module fosters a deeper understanding of the legal and conceptual ecosystem that shapes digital health, encouraging active and informed participation in its regulation and defence from a human rights perspective.
What's included
3 videos10 readings
In this module, we will apply the knowledge acquired on digital human rights to real and diverse scenarios across the Global South. Through a critical analysis of two case studies from Colombia and Vietnam, we will examine concrete situations faced by activists, communities and human rights defenders in digital contexts. These cases, selected and narrated by members of the DHRP Community Advisory Teams (CATs), reveal tensions between the use of technology and human rights, while offering key insights into local dynamics that shape health, dignity and freedom in digital environments.
What's included
7 videos8 readings
In this final module, developed by Fundación Karisma—a Colombian organisation with over 20 years of experience in digital technology and human rights—we will explore why privacy and digital security are fundamental rights that must be protected across all environments, including digital spaces. Through critical reflections, everyday examples and audiovisual resources, the module challenges common myths such as “I have nothing to hide” and examines how surveillance, data exploitation and other threats affect dignity, health and human rights. This module invites learners to recognise that defending privacy is not solely an individual responsibility, but a collective challenge that requires community-based action and the demand for fairer systems. From a context-aware perspective, participants will learn to identify risks, apply protective tools and strengthen networks of collective care.
What's included
7 videos10 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt
This final module aims to consolidate, reflect on and certify the knowledge acquired throughout the course. Through a series of assessment activities linked to the content of each module, learners will be able to test their critical understanding of digital human rights, their guiding principles, their implications for health, and strategies for protection and advocacy. This space seeks not only to certify participation, but also to recognise the learning journey undertaken, strengthening participants’ capacity to act in response to the challenges of the digital world. The MOOC concludes by reaffirming that defending human rights in digital environments is a collective and transformative endeavour.
What's included
2 videos2 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt2 plugins
Instructor

Offered by
Explore more from Public Health
Status: Free TrialEmpower School of Health
Status: Free TrialEmpower School of Health
Status: Free TrialImperial College London
Status: Free TrialImperial College London
Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.

Jennifer J.

Larry W.

Chaitanya A.

Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
More questions
Financial aid available,

