Digitalised welfare states : constructing a data-driven governance in the Global South
Marine Al Dahdah (EHESS/CNRS/INSERM): öffentlicher Vortrag im Rahmen des Forschungskolloquiums Ethnologie
Date: | 6 October 2020 |
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Time: | 16.15 h to 17.45 h |
Location: | per zoom |
Marine Al Dahdah (EHESS/CNRS/INSERM): Digitalised welfare states : constructing a data-driven governance in the Global South
Ann and Sita just arrived at a clinic near their village; both came because their delivery is taken care of. Ann showed her mobile phone and Sita her "smartcard" to access the workroom without spending any money, a revolution in their country - Kenya and India - where from transportation to birth certificate, women have to pay for each component of the delivery procedure. Ann and Sita are benefiting from new data-driven welfare policies made to facilitate financial access to healthcare in the Global South. These services offer their first health coverage to Kenyans and Indians, as the majority of them use health infrastructures without any health insurance and go into debt to cover their health expenses. Both these services offer health coverage closely linked to the consumption and production of digital products. By allowing individuals to pay or cover their healthcare expenses through the use of virtual money, stored on mobile or smartcard, these devices are feeding a data-based private economy. Through the empirical study of the two national health coverage programs used by Ann and Sita, this communication illustrates both the construction of health policies based on partnerships with digital businesses and the emergence of digital markets through public policies. Whereas these schemes promise health coverage for all, their digital infrastructures complicate access to health services and reveal new patterns of exclusion. Thus, it will detail how data-driven public-private policies and datafication condition access to healthcare in India and Kenya. |