Global Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health

The World Economic Forum and Deloitte present a toolkit to govern digital mental health technologies, addressing ethical risks like data privacy and algorithmic bias while proposing a standards-based approach to ensure clinical safety and equitable access.

• Mental health disorders impose a massive global economic burden, with projected cumulative output losses of $16.3 trillion worldwide between 2011 and 2030.
• While over 10,000 mental health apps exist in major app stores, the vast majority are not based on evidence, creating risks regarding efficacy and safety.
• Disruptive technologies in mental health—including AI/ML, digital phenotyping, and virtual reality—can improve accessibility, reduce stigma, and enable personalized care, but they introduce significant ethical risks.
• Six core ethical and practical risks are identified: untested efficacy/misleading claims, privacy breaches of health data, harm from malfunction or incorrect advice, lack of accountability for consumer interests, widening the digital divide, and long-term social/behavioural consequences.
• The toolkit proposes a comprehensive set of 16 standards for auditing digital mental health services, covering areas such as clinical safety, data privacy, person-centred design, and responsible AI/ML governance.
• To resolve novel moral dilemmas that static audits cannot address, the document suggests a 'social licence to operate' framework based on transparency, stakeholder engagement, and continuous evaluation.
• Governance enforcement can range from 'low-touch' voluntary standards and kitemarks to 'high-touch' legislation and pre-market authorization, depending on the risk level of the service.
• A target operating model for digital mental health is envisioned as an integrated intervention pyramid that prioritizes prevention and early intervention to reduce the burden on specialist services.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Global Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Governance_Toolkit_for_Digital_Mental_Health_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Global Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health. 2021. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Governance_Toolkit_for_Digital_Mental_Health_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Global Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health |date=April 2021 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Governance_Toolkit_for_Digital_Mental_Health_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021global, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Global Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Governance_Toolkit_for_Digital_Mental_Health_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }