The role of digital health technologies in women’s health, empowerment, and gender equality: project report

ABSTRACT

A growing body of evidence shows that digital health technologies (DHTs) can improve women’s health outcomes by overcoming ongoing socioeconomic, cultural and geopolitical barriers that inhibit their access to health care. Despite this, there has been no systematic assessment of the benefits of digital health for women’s health. This project was devised to review the effects of DHTs on women’s health and their potential to improve women’s empowerment and gender equality by scoping peer-reviewed primary studies in this area. The results suggest that DHTs positively impact women’s empowerment, facilitate the achievement of gender equality (particularly associated with improving women’s access to health-care services, enhancing maternal health, providing women with essential health information and creating opportunities for women to participate in household decisions), and improve health outcomes for women (especially in relation to gynaecology, obstetrics and psychiatry), thereby advancing the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.