The Global Digital Collaboration Conference 2026 will bring together government, international organizations, technical experts and private-sector partners to advance collaboration on trusted digital systems and cross-border digital solutions. A key focus will be the development of secure, portable and trusted digital health wallets, including the governance, technology, standards and partnerships needed to enable verified health information to move securely with individuals across health facilities and borders.
As a co-organizer of the conference, WHO will contribute its expertise on digital health standards, interoperability and trust frameworks, and share country experiences and practical approaches to building a trusted global digital health ecosystem.
WHO on the agenda
Day 1 | 1 September | 12:00–12:20| Plenary, ABC Room
Advancing Global Digital Health Wallets: Secure. Portable. Yours.
As health records become increasingly digital, a critical gap remains: ensuring health information is secure, portable and trusted when people move between clinics, districts and countries.
Alain Labrique, Director of WHO’s Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI, will join Alan Stapelberg, Group Product Manager at Google, to discuss how they are working together to build trust frameworks for cross-border verification. The session will explore how verified health credentials can be securely shared and verified by authorised providers anywhere in the world, without WHO or any intermediary holding the underlying patient data, as well as the governance, technology and partnerships needed to scale these solutions globally.
Session co-organized by WHO
Day 2 | 2 September | 10:00–10:50 | ABC Room
Quality Assured Health Wallets: Real-World Use Cases
Building a secure, portable and trusted digital health ecosystem requires moving from high-level design to practical quality assurance. With WHO’s Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN) already connecting over 80 countries and nearly 2 billion people, the next step is to learn from real-world country experiences and use cases.
Join Joyce Wamicwe and Emily Bennett from UNICC, and Carl Leitner from WHO, as they explore the operational realities of deploying interoperable trust networks, including regional testing and conformance frameworks, reference architectures and practical lessons from active regional testbeds. The session will highlight what is needed to make quality-assured digital health wallets functional, scalable and universally trusted.
Session co-organized by WHO and UNICC
Day 2 | 2 September | 16:00 – 16:50 | Room G
Exploring Real-World Interoperability: Health Credentials in Digital Wallets
The session will explore the opportunities and challenges of using verifiable health credentials in digital wallets, showcasing real-world use cases including immunisation records, health workforce credentials and professional certifications. Discussions will focus on the standards, interoperability models and practical approaches needed to enable health credentials to work across different wallets and public health systems. Carl Leitner from WHO will join experts from standards, digital identity and credential initiatives to share perspectives on practical implementation and interoperability.
Session co-organized by WHO, DPI Group: Aapti Institute, Interledger Foundation, MOSIP, Networks for Humanity