If you build it, they will come…or not; Considerations for Women’s Health in the post-pandemic era of Digital Innovation

Culture has been defined as “an internalized and shared framework through which both the individual and the collective experience the world”. Cultural processes shape social institutions, and mold – while in turn being molded by –members of a given cultural or subcultural group. The norms that are created by culture can have important implications for health outcomes, as culture can shape one’s recognition, interpretation and acceptance of “disease” and “wellness”. In this era of rapid digital growth and democratization, without considering and understanding what the notion of “disease” or “wellness" means to a group of people, digital health platforms may not be used as intended, and risk failing.

In this paper, we use examples from digital innovations in women’s health across different cultures to discuss notions of i) disease, ii) wellness, iii) care seeking decisions, iv) competitors and acculturation. Aligning with the World Health Organization’s call to rigorously evaluate eHealth solutions to ensure that digital investments are not being diverted from non-digital approaches, we use this paper to urge digital scientists to explore what these constructs mean to the end user first before development and/or implementation; so that digital innovations in women’s health are used as designed and intended; lest they risk failing.