10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

Global Digital Health Certification

Network
©

WHO’s Global Digital Health Certification Network is an open-source platform, built on robust &
transparent standards that establishes the first building block of digital public health infrastructure for
developing a wide range of digital products for strengthening pandemic preparedness and to deliver
better health for all. 

Background 
One of the key tools used by many Member States in reopening economies during the COVID-19
pandemic has been digital COVID-19 test and vaccine certificates. As the directing and coordinating
authority on international health work, at the onset of the pandemic, WHO engaged with all WHO
Regions to define overall guidance for such certificates and published the Digital Documentation of
COVID-19 Certificates: Vaccination status and Test results in 2021 and 2022, respectively. 

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 1/6
10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic response, there is a recognition of an existing gap and
continued need for a global mechanism that can support bilateral verification of the provenance of
health documents for pandemic preparedness and continuity of care. The GDHCN can be used as
an infrastructural building block to support additional use cases, which may include, for example, the
digitisation of the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, verification of prescriptions
across borders, the International Patient Summary, verification of vaccination certificates within and
across borders, and certification of public health professionals (through WHO Academy). Expanding
such digital solutions will be essential to deliver better health for people across the globe. 

To meet this need, in line with the Global strategy on digital health priority actions, WHO has
established the Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN). The GDHCN is builds upon
the experience of regional networks for COVID-19 Certificates and takes up the infrastructure and
experiences with the digital European Union Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC) system, which has
seen adoption across all Member States of the EU as well as 51 non-EU countries and territories.
The GDHCN has been designed to be interoperable with other existing regional networks (e.g.,
ICAO VSD-NC, DIVOC, LACPass, SMART Health Cards) specifications. 

Technical information
The GDHCN is a trust network that is a digital reflection of the trust WHO already has with Member
States. The trust network is operationalized through software infrastructure that enables Member
States to bilaterally verify the authenticity of digital records and health certificates through an
interoperable trust architecture, without WHO participating in any verification processes but acting as
a “trust anchor”.  

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 2/6
10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

As the trust anchor, WHO is implementing an onboarding process to establish technical and
governance procedures for digital trust between WHO and each Member State, and thus, between
Member States participating in the trust network.  WHO will not hold or otherwise have access to
any individual data. Participating Member States voluntarily submit public keys into a directory
managed by WHO, so they are shared in a trusted manner with other Member states. These public
keys then can be used to verify that digitally signed health credentials (e.g. Immunization cards,
health records) were issued by a recognized authority in the GDHCN. 

Regional and global trust networks are widely used today for when the provenance of information
must be certified and verified such as a passport or a website. The GDHCN is designed to leverage
existing investments by jurisdictions that were made under the COVID-19 response and provide the
digital health infrastructure needed for resiliency in future epidemic and pandemic responses and to
deliver better health to all by enabling the use of digital personal health records for continuity of care.
 

Benefits of establishing a GDHCN

Individuals obtain agency over their own health information 
Health providers can more easily verify health records to support continuity of care 
Governments can provide standards and mechanisms to issue and verify that records are
linked to authorized institutions, within and between countries. 

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 3/6
10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

News

5 June 2023
| News release

The European Commission and WHO launch landmark digital health initiative
to strengthen gl...

Publications

31 March 2022

Digital documentation of COVID-19 certificates: test

result: technical specifications and
iDownload
l
Read More
i

27 August 2021

Digital documentation of COVID-19 certificates:

vaccination status: technical specifications and
iDownload
l
Read More
i

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 4/6
10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

18 August 2021

Global strategy on digital health 2020-2025

Download
Read More

Resources

Technical specifications

Onboarding process

Contact us

smartvaccination@who.int

Related links

Health systems

Digital health

Global Digital Health Certification Network FAQs

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 5/6
10/6/23, 23:48 Global Digital Health Certification Network

EU Digital COVID Certificate

https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network 6/6