Towards Equitable Futures in Frontline Health: Design of Intelligent Systems for Supporting (Gendered) Care Work in Resource-Constrained Settings

Abstract

Frontline health workers in many countries are responsible for filling gaps in essential primary health infrastructure, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their work increasingly involves the use of purportedly "intelligent"systems or data collection for such systems, to support diagnosis, disease forecasting, and information delivery. My research aims to inform the design of data-driven and automated systems in frontline health work, particularly for women workers in low-level and precarious roles in the Global South. Drawing from literature in the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI), gender and development studies, and health informatics, I will critically examine health workers' experiences and relationships with "intelligent"systems, and engage in the participatory design of technology that might better serve worker needs while strengthening the frontline health ecology overall.