COVID-19, health tech, and sphere transgression in Ethiopia

This chapter considers whether, and the extent to which, Ethiopia’s technology-led response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in sphere transgression or transition. Ethiopia is one of the countries with low uptake of information and communication technologies. Except for a few initiatives of local technology companies, much of the national pandemic response measures relied upon the technological support of international aid agencies. That means the notions of neither sphere transgression nor transition quite explain the Ethiopian case. This chapter demonstrates that partnerships between public health authorities and aid agencies were at the centre of the country’s pandemic response measures. But the measures were not subject to meaningful oversight under the applicable legal and regulatory framework.