AI innovation in healthcare and state platforms under a rights-based perspective: the case of Brazillian RNDS

Abstract

This article examines the National Health Data Network (RNDS), the platform launched by the Ministry of Health in Brazil as the primary tool for its Digital Health Strategy 2020–2028, including innovation aspects. The analysis is made through two distinct frameworks: Right to health and personal data protection in Brazil. The first approach is rooted in the legal framework shaped by Brazil’s trajectory on health since 1988, marked by the formal acknowledgment of the Right to health and the establishment of the Unified Health System, Brazil’s universal access health system, encompassing public healthcare and public health actions. The second approach stems from the repercussions of the General Data Protection Law, enacted in 2018 and the inclusion of Right to personal data protection in Brazilian’s Constitution. This legislation, akin to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations, addressed the gap in personal data protection in Brazil and established principles and rules for data processing. The article begins by explanting the two approaches, and then it provides a brief history of health informatics policies in Brazil, leading to the current Digital Health Strategy and the RNDS. Subsequently, it delves into an analysis of the RNDS through the lenses of the two aforementioned approaches. In the final discussion sections, the article attempts to extract lessons from the analyses, particularly in light of ongoing discussions such as the secondary use of data for innovation in the context of different interpretations about innovation policies.