Health inequalities have a significant impact on many aspects of society, such as lost productivity, decreased life expectancy, or Quality of Life. Particularly neglected, are the over 25 million individuals living with Sickle cell disease (SCD), which are particularly exposed to various disparities (e.g., climate change, poverty, racism). Digital health apps have shown encouraging potential to support patients’ self-care. However, only a minority of patients use such apps for a prolonged period of time. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate whether novel anthropological approaches, namely Patient-Led Research (PLR), could encourage the design, development and adoption of apps that holistically support patients’ self-care. This approach allowed to discover important human factors such as experiential knowledge when designing digital health interventions to reduce inequalities. As a demonstrator, a digital companion has been developed and evaluated by different groups of patients, who perceived it as useful and easy to use.