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Digitalizing Community Health Work: A Struggle over the Values of Global Health Policy
Die Digitalisierung der community health worker: ein Streit über die Werte der Weltgesundheitspolitik
[journal article]
Abstract The introduction of digital technology has sparked new debates about the value of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries. This debate offers important insights into the conventions that are relevant in global public health. Community health workers, a workforce that was already... view more
The introduction of digital technology has sparked new debates about the value of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries. This debate offers important insights into the conventions that are relevant in global public health. Community health workers, a workforce that was already celebrated during the 1970s Primary Health Care movement, are having a remarkable revival in recent years, and myriad actors seek to boost their impact through mobile devices. Our content analysis of the public health literature evaluating this impact reveals the centrality of attempts at reconciling equity and cost effectiveness concerns, and thus considerable normative tensions. Additionally, we find that discussions about “domestic” values such as privacy and gender roles come with a paternalistic undertone, calling for feminist and postcolonial engagement with the digitalization of community health work.... view less
Keywords
health policy; health care; medical care; public health; health professionals; digitalization; new technology; value-orientation; developing country
Classification
Health Policy
Medical Sociology
Free Keywords
global health; primary health care; community health worker; feminism; orders of worth; economics of convention; mobile health; low- and middle-income countries; policy; values; global south; mHealth
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 136-159
Journal
Historical Social Research, 46 (2021) 1
Issue topic
Conventions, Health and Society - Convention Theory as an Institutionalist Approach to the Political Economy of Health
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed