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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1498600
This article is part of the Research TopicDigital Health Innovations in Africa: Harnessing AI, Telemedicine, and Personalized Medicine for Improved HealthcareView all 6 articles
Regulatory Challenges of Digital Health: The case of mental health applications and personal data in South Africa
Provisionally accepted- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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The article fits within the scope of this journal by addressing the intersection of digital health technologies, data protection, and regulatory frameworks, which directly impact the outcomes and efficacy of mental health interventions. It highlights how inadequacies in the regulation of digital mental health applications-particularly regarding data security, privacy, and AI-driven tools-affect patient outcomes and the safe deployment of digital therapeutics. This aligns with the journal's focus on the policy implications of drug and therapeutic outcomes, especially in the evolving landscape of digital health.
Keywords: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, investigation, methodology, Writingoriginal draft, Writing -review & editing digital mental health, data protection
Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Botes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Marietjie Wilhelmina Maria Botes, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.