Digital health issues for the SUS: “mobile health” and the algorithmic automation of medical knowledge-power

Abstract

The current pandemic has accelerated digital health transformation. One of its faces refers to the progressive use of mobile applications dedicated to care, disease prevention, and health promotion – e.g., mHealth. However, many gaps in the knowledge and questions about digital health to support its use and implementation persist in the scope of Public Health. With that in mind, this study aims to contribute to their assistance, social, political, legal, and ethical characterizations and analyses. The hypothesis we intend to test is that the digital transformation of health care leads, for better or for worse, to the algorithmic automation of the knowledge-power of medicine. To conduct this study, we carried out an extensive literature review and investigated and described mHealth apps based on the critical studies of digital health proposed by Deborah Lupton.