Davies Adeloye1, Taiwo Adigun, Sanjay Misra, Nicholas Omoregbe. 1. Dr. Davies Adeloye, Demography and Social Statistics, and the e-Health Research Cluster, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, E-mail: Davies.Adeloye@covenantuniversity.edu.ng.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: E-Health has attracted growing interests globally. The relative lack of facilities, skills, funds and information on existing e-Health initiatives has affected progress on e-Health in Africa. OBJECTIVES: To review publicly available literature on e-Health in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) towards providing information on existing and ongoing e-Health initiatives in the region. METHODS: Searches of relevant literature were conducted on Medline, EMBASE and Global Health, with search dates set from 1990 to 2016. We included studies on e-Health initiatives (prototypes, designs, or completed projects) targeting population groups in sSA. RESULTS: Our search returned 2322 hits, with 26 studies retained. Included studies were conducted in 14 countries across the four sub-regions in sSA (Central, East, South and West) and spreading over a 12-year period, 2002-2014. Six types of e-Health interventions were reported, with 17 studies (65 %) based on telemedicine, followed by mHealth with 5 studies (19 %). Other e-Health types include expert system, electronic medical records, e-mails, and online health module. Specific medical specialties covered include dermatology (19 %), pathology (12 %) and radiology (8 %). Successes were 'widely reported' (representing 50 % overall acceptance or positive feedbacks in a study) in 10 studies (38 %). The prominent challenges reported were technical problems, poor internet and connectivity, participants' selection biases, contextual issues, and lack of funds. CONCLUSION: E-Health is evolving in sSA, but with poorly published evidence. While we call for more quality research in the region, it is also important that population-wide policies and on-going e-Health initiatives are contextually feasible, acceptable, and sustainable.
BACKGROUND: E-Health has attracted growing interests globally. The relative lack of facilities, skills, funds and information on existing e-Health initiatives has affected progress on e-Health in Africa. OBJECTIVES: To review publicly available literature on e-Health in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) towards providing information on existing and ongoing e-Health initiatives in the region. METHODS: Searches of relevant literature were conducted on Medline, EMBASE and Global Health, with search dates set from 1990 to 2016. We included studies on e-Health initiatives (prototypes, designs, or completed projects) targeting population groups in sSA. RESULTS: Our search returned 2322 hits, with 26 studies retained. Included studies were conducted in 14 countries across the four sub-regions in sSA (Central, East, South and West) and spreading over a 12-year period, 2002-2014. Six types of e-Health interventions were reported, with 17 studies (65 %) based on telemedicine, followed by mHealth with 5 studies (19 %). Other e-Health types include expert system, electronic medical records, e-mails, and online health module. Specific medical specialties covered include dermatology (19 %), pathology (12 %) and radiology (8 %). Successes were 'widely reported' (representing 50 % overall acceptance or positive feedbacks in a study) in 10 studies (38 %). The prominent challenges reported were technical problems, poor internet and connectivity, participants' selection biases, contextual issues, and lack of funds. CONCLUSION: E-Health is evolving in sSA, but with poorly published evidence. While we call for more quality research in the region, it is also important that population-wide policies and on-going e-Health initiatives are contextually feasible, acceptable, and sustainable.
Authors: Jorge César Correia; Ahmed Waqas; Isabelle Aujoulat; Melanie J Davies; Jean-Philippe Assal; Alain Golay; Zoltan Pataky Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-05-18 Impact factor: 4.614