Conflict and Health · 4 authors, 3 centres
This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.
This scoping review of 27 papers found that digital health interventions for displaced populations in LMIC settings were developed with limited participatory engagement and focused primarily on technical feasibility rather than health outcomes, with authorship dominated by high-income-country researchers.
This scoping review followed the Arksey and O'Malley approach, searching five academic databases and three online literature repositories to identify studies on digital health tools used by displaced populations in low- and middle-income countries. Twenty-seven papers were included and analysed through a critical power lens from the perspective of displaced people. Digital health tools principally used mobile phones to address heterogeneous health issues, but the literature focused largely on technical connectivity and feasibility assessments, leaving a gap in evidence on health outcomes. Authorship primarily originated from high-income countries, reflecting global power dynamics. Participatory activities were largely limited to informing content adaptations and functional modifications within pre-determined project objectives, without consideration of Participation Revolution indicators. The authors acknowledge several limitations, including inconsistent terminology for key concepts, the presupposition that localisation is inherently beneficial, and the possibility that some data may not be wholly representative of LMIC contexts. The review concludes that greater meaningful participation at all project stages is needed.
