Published Paper Details:

Digital health technologies have the potential to significantly strengthen primary health care (PHC) delivery in rural settings by improving access, efficiency, continuity of care, and health outcomes. Tools such as telemedicine, mobile health applications, electronic health records, and digital decision-support systems can help overcome geographical barriers, workforce shortages, and information gaps that disproportionately affect rural populations. Despite this promise, adoption and sustained use of digital health solutions in rural primary health care remain uneven and limited. This paper examines the major barriers and enabling factors influencing digital health adoption among rural populations within PHC settings. Drawing on existing literature, policy documents, and implementation experiences, the study identifies infrastructural limitations, low digital literacy, workforce constraints, socio-cultural and economic challenges, privacy concerns, and weak system-level governance as key barriers. Conversely, improved connectivity, affordable and appropriate technologies, user-centered design, capacity building for health workers, community engagement, supportive policy frameworks, and sustainable financing mechanisms emerge as critical enablers. The findings highlight that digital health adoption is not solely a technological issue but a socio-technical process shaped by human behavior, institutional capacity, and contextual realities. The paper concludes that equity-oriented, context-sensitive, and system-integrated digital health strategies are essential for strengthening rural primary health care and ensuring inclusive health system transformation.