Locally adapting digital health technologies to address the global challenge of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson's disease is the fastest growing neurological disorder worldwide. As the global burden of the disease continues to grow, along with the environmental consequences of industrialization, it remains essential to diagnose, treat, and study Parkinson's disease among historically marginalized populations living in remote and relatively unindustrialized regions of the world. The diagnosis and monitoring of the motor manifestations of the disease depends on in-person examination of the speed, amplitude, and frequency of movement by trained providers. Digital health technologies allow synchronous, remote, video-based access to trained providers able to diagnose and monitor the progression of Parkinson's disease using clinical rating scales. Digital health technologies can be expensive, and their use requires sustainable access to trained providers, powerful computers and high-speed internet that are not widely available for historically marginalized populations, such as those living in remote Andean regions of Latin America. Local adaptation of health technologies could be promoted in partnership with historically marginalized communities to study their unique epidemiology while building local capacity to expand care and support community-driven education and research efforts.