Digital Determinants of Health – PLOS Digital Health

Today PLOS Digital Health has published its first-ever thematic collection, ‘The Digital Determinants of Health’, a set of reviews covering the digital determinants of health and highlighting potential pitfalls to access and equality in technology-enabled healthcare. As the first collection published, we believe that signaling the journal’s focus on equity and explicit mission to improve healthcare delivery should be paramount. As this collection affirms, the potential for meaningful improvement in access to care through digital means can be as great as the risk of unintended harm. 

Importantly, the Digital Determinants of Health collection is broad in scope, covering concepts like digital literacy, technological accessibility, poverty, algorithm bias, and how healthcare can lower barriers to care on these fronts. We are particularly proud of the global nature of the team behind this work. The authors, reviewers, and editors represent diverse and local perspectives on digital health from fifteen different countries including Malawi, the Philippines, and Argentina.

You can find links to articles in the collection below, with more content to be published in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Digital literacy as a new determinant of health: a scoping review, María del Pilar Arias López

Going beyond the means: Exploring the role of bias from digital determinants of health in technologies, An-Kwok Wong 

Strategies and Solutions to Address Digital Determinants of Health (DDOH) across Underinvested Communities, Casey Holmes Fee

Digital Determinants of Health : Health data poverty amplifies existing health disparities – A scoping review, Kenneth E Paik 

Bias in artificial intelligence algorithms and recommendations for mitigation, Lama Nazer 

The journal is proud of the voices this collection has brought together, but we recognize that it is an ongoing task to reach the incredible variety of researchers in digital health working around the world. We invite you to lend us your perspective on improving healthcare at the intersection of technology, from a local or global perspective.

The Editor-in-Chief, Leo Anthony Celi, reflects on the importance and timeliness of this collection:

The social patterning of the digital transformation is bound to preserve or even widen the divide between those who are privileged and those who are marginalized. In addition, there will be those who will not be able to navigate the digital world and who will be newly marginalized.

The promise of digitalization is data and knowledge to improve quality of life. But just like previous innovations, it will deliver its promise to those who are already privileged.

Leo Anthony Celi
Editor-in-Chief, PLOS Digital Health