TELEHEALTH IN THE BRAZILIAN UNIFIED HEALTH SYSTEM, DIGITAL DIVIDE AND TERRITORY: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS FROM MILTON SANTOS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Telehealth has become a strategic component of the digital transformation of the Brazilian Unified Health System, but its ability to expand access and comprehensiveness depends on the concrete conditions in which people live and use technologies. This chapter presents a theoretical bibliographic study aimed at analyzing telehealth in the SUS through the lens of the digital divide, linking social determinants of health with Milton Santos’ concept of territory. References on digital health, social inequalities, digital exclusion, territorial organization of care, and recent Brazilian regulations were examined. The analysis shows that connectivity, device availability, digital literacy, income, education, age, housing conditions, and the territorial distribution of services affect the possibility of transforming technological supply into effective access. It is concluded that telehealth should not be planned as an abstract or homogeneous solution, but as a technology embedded in the used territory, whose implementation must recognize social and spatial differences, preserve face-to-face alternatives, and strengthen Primary Health Care as coordinator of care.