Centre for Health Equity, Law and Policy
Abhineet Nayyar, Senior Associate - Research and Policy Engagement, spoke as a panelist at Decolonizing Digital Health Public Private Partnerships in Asia and Africa, an online RightsCon session organized by the Centre for Health Equity, Law and Policy on 22 September 2026. The session examined how public private partnerships (PPPs) entrench public reliance on Big Tech entities and hyperscalers, and how these agreements and their underlying regulations can be modified to make technology procurement more equitable and less extractive.
Abhineet spoke on the nature of the dependency that Global South countries have on a handful of technology providers from the Global North, where it arises from, and how it constrains these countries. He pointed to the many forms of knowledge enclosures, both explicit and implicit, that providers rely on to lock themselves into public health systems, leaving users little option to migrate or switch. He also argued for collaborative techno-legal standards, such as prioritizing the procurement of open and interoperable technologies in official initiatives, to limit the structural constraints faced by countries across LMICs.
The engagement strengthened advocacy for improved policy and practice and contributed to the ongoing discourse on digital health, corporate power, and public technology procurement.