Research

Digital health: the digital good in low-resource settings in Africa

Access to quality healthcare remains a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital technology can overcome barriers by bridging distance, saving costs and connecting people at the right time, to the right health workers when care is needed. This can be viewed as Digital Good, but it can also create ethical dilemmas for healthcare workers, decision-makers and communities who want affordable services without compromising quality or losing control over health data. This project will examine the case study of remote consulting using mobile phones in low-resource settings of sub-Saharan Africa. 

For impoverished, vulnerable communities remote consulting facilitates care delivery, however, structural and social vulnerabilities, tensions between national and local governance systems and the power of telecommunication companies create ethical dilemmas. This project will explore ethical dilemmas with key stakeholders to develop a policy-focussed shared language and framework for the digital good in healthcare in low-resource settings.  

Team

Dr Bronwyn Harris, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Warwick

Golden Lwando Mwinsa, PhD Student, Social Science and Systems in Health Unit (SSSU), Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School- University of Warwick.

Campion Zharima, PhD student, Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa.

Dr Funke Fayehun, Associate Professor And Head of Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Professor Jane Goudge, Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa

Professor Senga Pemba, Professor of Medical Education, St Francis University College of Heath and Allied Sciences, Ifakara Tanzania

Dr Violet Naanyu, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Moi University, Kenya

Professor Frances Griffiths, Professor of Medicine in Society, University of Warwick