Human-centered design for global health equity.

As digital technologies play a growing role in healthcare, human-centered design is gaining traction in global health. Amid concern that this trend offers little more than buzzwords, our paper clarifies how human-centered design matters for global health equity. First, we contextualize how the design discipline differs from conventional approaches to research and innovation in global health, by emphasizing craft skills and iterative methods that reframe the relationship between design and implementation. Second, while there is no definitive agreement about what the 'human' part means, it often implies stakeholder participation, augmenting human skills, and attention to human values. Finally, we consider the practical relevance of human-centered design by reflecting on our experiences accompanying health workers through over seventy digital health initiatives. In light of this material, we describe human-centered design as a flexible yet disciplined approach to innovation that prioritizes people's needs and concrete experiences in the design of complex systems.

Informations de copyright

© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Both authors are employed by Medic Mobile, a non-profit organization whose design practice is discussed in this article. IH additionally serves on Medic Mobile’s board of directors, a voluntary position for which he receives no financial compensation. The authors have no financial conflicts of interest to report.