Analysis of the consultations on the InfoChagas digital platform

Abstract

Background People affected by T cruzi infection, and at risk to develop Chagas disease, face significant barriers to accessing healthcare and often lack adequate information and communication resources. To address this, the Chagas Coalition developed the Info-Chagas digital platform, including an informative website and consultations sections, linked YouTube channels in English and Spanish. Methodology This cross-sectional study analyzed consultations to the InfoChagas platform between 2016 and 2023. We conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of the consultants’ profiles, enquiry topics, and barriers that people at risk of having T. cruzi infection faced when seeking health care. Principal findings A total of 272 consultations were received via the website (n = 129) and YouTube (n = 143) from 19 endemic and non-endemic countries. Nearly two-thirds of these were from Argentina (n = 33, 25.6%), Mexico (n = 24, 18.6%), and Bolivia (n = 22, 17%). Main topics included doubts related to access to treatment (n = 71, 26%), transmission risk in daily life (n = 38, 14%) and requests for help or referrals to health care professionals (n = 38, 14%). Half of the users (n = 138, 50.7%) reported barriers to healthcare access, with the majority citing the inability of the system to provide adequate and effective care for T. cruzi infection (n = 127, 92.7%). Additionally, 96.7% (n = 270) of the narratives highlighted the need for information, education, and communication (IEC) to understand the complexity of T. cruzi infection and to demystify concepts that hinder access to healthcare. Conclusions/significance InfoChagas serves as an informative, communicative, educational, and supportive resource for individuals affected by or at risk of T. cruzi infection across diverse geographic regions. Given the critical role of IEC strategies and the rise of healthcare technology, digital tools such as InfoChagas is a useful resource to face the existing barriers to healthcare access for the infection and to improve access to quality information and healthcare services.