BACKGROUND The emergence of digital technologies over the past decade has presented a novel opportunity to address healthcare challenges associated with COVID-19 and accelerate progress towards achieving the health-related goals under the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have played a vital role in scaling up digital health solutions and disseminating curated scientific information in the face of the infodemic. However, several challenges remain around the effectiveness of PPP-related digital solutions and antagonistic viewpoints of engaging the private sector. We sought to evaluate the role of public-private partnerships in the digital public health space during COVID-19 and identify key lessons learned and challenges in the uptake of digital health solutions globally. OBJECTIVE Electronic and grey literature search results from PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar were screened by one reviewer through a two-stage process. We included all relevant systematic reviews, interventional, observational, and descriptive studies published in English published from January 2020 to June 2021. Two case study analyses on digital health chatbots, informed by expert opinion, were also performed to assess for the role of public-private partnerships in advancing digital public health solutions. METHODS Electronic and grey literature search results from PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar were screened by one reviewer through a two-stage process. We included all relevant systematic reviews, interventional, observational, and descriptive studies published in English published from January 2020 to June 2021. Two case study analyses on digital health chatbots, informed by expert opinion, were also performed to assess for the role of public-private partnerships in advancing digital public health solutions. RESULTS Forty-five articles met the inclusion criteria for qualitative analysis, the majority of which were secondary research. Results of the publications can be broadly categorized into three groups: (1) models and definitions of public-private partnerships used in the healthcare space; (2) purposes of and motivations of public-private partnerships in global public health; and (3) and facilitators, barriers, and challenges to date. CONCLUSIONS The literature review as well as the case studies analysis reveal that PPPs can represent a valid option for tackling global healthcare issues with a digital health approach. Further research is needed to complement the initial findings of the present paper, as well as to assess a wider pool of case studies and the different features that they might present.

The transformations brought by the digitisation of work and the emergence of platform labour have deep implications for working conditions. However, researchers face difficulties studying platformised work. Workers’ invisibilisation and the lack of physical co-presence renders field access difficult. How can the variety of platforms, their organisational systems and the working conditions they offer be accounted for? In this article, we propose a mixed-methods methodology to study platforms in all their diversity by articulating the macro level – the market structure revealed through a multiple correspondence analysis – and the micro level – detailed studies of targeted platforms carried out using desk research. We apply this method in two projects, and, in each case, a typology emerges that supports the need for a diversification of the concept of ‘platform labour’ when related to working conditions.