Digital Pathways to Inclusive Health Reform: Addressing Mental Health Inequities Among Informal Workers in India
description: This chapter examines how digital transformation can address mental health inequities among informal workers in India, focusing on discrimination, labor precarity, and unequal access to care. Using empirical insights from Kerala within broader national and global contexts, it analyzes how psychological distress among native and migrant workers emerges from intersecting socioeconomic, institutional, and digital factors. Drawing on psychology, public health, economics, and digital governance, the chapter proposes a phygital mental health framework integrating physical services with digitally enabled care pathways. Emphasis is placed on ethical leadership, data governance, and economic sustainability, highlighting both opportunities and risks of digital mental health expansion. The chapter demonstrates how compassionate, inclusive, and accountable digital reforms can translate mental health policy into effective instruments for equity, social justice, and sustainable health system transformation. 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved.
creator: George, Jince; Karalam, Sheeja B.
source: AI and Digital Innovation in Healthcare Reform: from Policy to Practice;pp.29-64
publisher: IGI Global
date: 01-01-2026
rights: Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library
relation: ISBN: 979-826000941-3; 979-826000939-0;
language: English
type: Book chapter
coverage: George J., Christ University, India; Karalam S.B., Christ University, India