title: Understanding Health Information Seeking from an Actor-Centric Perspective.
abstract: This paper presents a conceptual approach for discussing health information seeking among poor households in Africa and Asia. This approach is part of a larger research endeavor aimed at understanding how health systems are adapting; with possibilities and constraints emerging. These health systems can be found in a context of the changing relationships between states, markets and civil society in low and middle income countries. The paper starts from an understanding of the health sector as a "health knowledge economy", organized to provide people with access to knowledge and advice. The use of the term "health knowledge economy" draws attention to the ways the health sector is part of a broader knowledge economy changing the way individuals and households obtain and use specialist information. The paper integrates an actor centric approach with the theory of planned behavior. It seeks to identify the actors engaged in the health knowledge economy as a precursor to longer term studies on the uptake of innovations integrating health services with mobile phones, commonly designated as mHealth, contributing to an understanding of the potential vulnerabilities of poor people, and highlighting possible dangers if providers of health information and advice are strongly influenced by interest groups.
authors.affiliation: Gamos Ltd, Reading, UK. Research@gamos.org.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Batchelor
authors.affiliation: Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK. L.Waldman@ids.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Waldman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK. G.Bloom@ids.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gerry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bloom
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. sabrina1@icddrb.org.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rasheed
authors.affiliation: Gamos Ltd, Reading, UK. research@gamos.org.
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. tanvir@icddrb.org.
authors.forename: Tanvir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. nazib@icddrb.org.
authors.forename: Nazib Uz Zaman
authors.initials: NU
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. tamanna@icddrb.org.
authors.forename: Tamanna
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sharmin
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh; D040421:Cell Phone; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine; D059015:Wireless Technology
keywords: Bangladesh; ICT; health information seeking; mobiles