Digitalization of Healthcare in LMICs: Digital Health and the Digital Divide Based on Technological Availability and Development

Abstract Digitization in healthcare has been an ongoing trend for several decades, strengthened by the acute needs presented by current health areas such as the COVID-19 pandemic, non-communicable diseases, and the mental health crisis. While in many cases technological development has been a conduit for reducing healthcare inequalities, in others it has had the opposite effect. One of the reasons for the suboptimal impact of technology has been the digital divide, in other words the lack of technological availability and development. This chapter is a scoping review that identifies the key factors in recent scientific literature that relate to the root causes of the digital divide. Key aspects such as connectivity, digital literacy and accessibility have been firmly mentioned through most of the identified publications. Also, through the scoping review recommendations were identified. This chapter has highlighted the diverse factors affecting the digitization of healthcare in relation to the digital divide, as well as the potential actions that can mitigate this divide based on digital technology availability and development.