Paper short abstract:

The ASSA project applies an anthropological perspective to mHealth. We outline 'informal' mHealth practices evident in the Kampala and Sao Paolo fieldsites. By reporting to digital health practitioners, the researchers apply ethnography to supplement practical digital health aims and practices.

Paper long abstract:

Given growing access to smartphones around the world, mHealth has been the focus of much digital development enthusiasm, being viewed as an opportunity for improving accessibility to healthcare and health information.. This has often resulted in pilot schemes which then prove unsustainable and leave new gaps in their wake. The ASSA project applies an anthropological perspective to mHealth, finding that existing uses of mobile phones for health purposes such as WhatsApp and mobile money practices, are more productive than bespoke mHealth apps. This paper focuses on examples from our Kampala (Uganda) and Sao Paolo (Brazil) fieldsites, as well as elsewhere in the ASSA project. In a survey within our low-income Kampala fieldsite, 54% had made health related calls in the last month, and 27% of their previous three remittances were for health purposes. Phones are thereby utilized for mobilizing support and obligation within families split between Kampala and the village, particularly in times of poor health. In Sao Paolo, although telemedicine is not yet regulated , WhatsApp is embedded in everyday health practices. 87% of doctors claim to use WhatsApp to communicate with patients and many services use the app to bypass bureaucracies, saving time and money spent in health services. The platform is helping families to take care of relatives at a distance and, especially among older people, the app is used to fight isolation and depression. By reporting evidence of these practices to digital health practitioners, the researchers aim to to supplement current digital health aims.