Digital markets and the commercialisation of healthcare in Africa: the case of Kenya
Résumé
With the widespread use of mobile phones, digital technology is gaining renewed interest in Africa. A growing number of international actors are proposing to use mobile phones as central tools for addressing health issues on the continent, specifically to ensure 'health for all'. Based on the analysis of the "health wallet" of the world most famous mobile money platform, MPESA in Kenya, this article questions the tenants and tribulations of implementing market-and digitally-based universal health coverage. It explores the way in which digital devices reconfigure the politico-economic modalities of governing health coverage in Africa. It shows how this platform model involves diverting funds formerly given to public structures to private operators in charge of deploying digital health infrastructures. The same private operators managing these infrastructures now have access to public and private health data and monetize them, thereby further aiding the expansion of corporate provisioning of health services.
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