ABSTRACT:
Digital health is systematically presented as synonymous with technological tools that optimize services, expand access, and automate clinical and administrative processes. However, it should be observed as a socio-technical, political, and symbolic phenomenon, shifting the focus from the technology itself to the ways in which it reorganizes practices, knowledge, relationships, and ways of doing health. This study analyzed the development of new digital ecosystems, the role of networks and artificial intelligence in public health systems, from the perspective of the interface between education, communication, and digital health. The qualitative approach, through a case study, included the documentary analysis of the content of digital health courses offered remotely to professionals of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). The results reveal a critical perspective on the course content, which underlines the risks of technological dependence and increased inequalities. These risks arise when digital health is seen only as the importation of global solutions, without a national project guided by principles of equity and sovereignty in health. On the other hand, educational materials also present initiatives with other forms of technology use, such as community data networks, like those created by indigenous peoples for environmental and health monitoring in traditional territories; social technology projects, such as applications co-created by community health agents; and the creation of an application to strengthen equity policies in the Unified Health System (SUS), among others. They also discuss experiences of digitizing health systems in various countries, which mostly occur amidst historical inequalities of access, limited infrastructure, and technological dependence. In the Latin American context, this takes on specific contours. The digitization of health systems occurs amidst historical inequalities of access, limited infrastructure, and technological dependence on the Global North. The conclusion highlights the need for national projects guided by principles of equity and sovereignty in health.