Strengthening Health Systems Using Innovative Digital Health Technologies in Africa

Ibeneme, Sunny; Karamagi, Humphrey; Muneene, Derrick; Goswami, Kajali; Chisaka, Noel; Okeibunor, Joseph

doi:10.3389/fdgth.2022.854339

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Historically, the development of innovations has been concentrated in high-income economies to meet their demand. However, there is a notable shift in the center of gravity to the innovation landscape where developing countries, particularly in Africa, could ‘leapfrog’ their current health systems by leveraging off innovations due to lower sunk costs related to existing infrastructure and equipment, rapidly increasing technology penetration, alternative operating and financing models, and possibly less structured regulatory environments [ 6 ]. As a result, new innovative health solutions can be deployed quickly and with immediate impact without the need to proportionately increase healthcare facilities and professionals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Healthcare Innovation Scaling Framework—The Voice of the Innovator

Ngongoni

William

Makubalo

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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This paper investigates the systemic challenges that African healthcare innovators experience in the quest to scale their innovations. The aim is to aggregate insights and to conceptualize a foundation towards building a framework that can be used as a guide by intermediary organizations and global partners to support collaborative innovation in African countries. These insights were gained from analyzing a dataset of survey responses obtained from a follow-up on 230 innovators who took part in the inaugural WHO Africa Innovation Challenge that was held in 2018. The insights led to the identification of 10 key foundational blocks that assist in ecosystem management in a bid to strengthen national health innovation ecosystems and to improve the sustainability and integration of innovations in the health system.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Healthcare Innovation Scaling Framework—The Voice of the Innovator

Ngongoni

William

Makubalo

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…To achieve this vision of sustainable HIS assessments, it is imperative that leaders have a shared vision and skilled champions to plan/implement the activities, financing, and coordination. Investments in health have been donor-driven and fragmented, particularly in information systems in sub-Saharan African countries, which has resulted in a lack of shared vision and drivers for HIS assessments (32,33). To overcome this barrier, sustainable HIS maturity assessments require strong buy-in and leadership from governments, with sufficient consultations among key stakeholders to support better planning and implementation of maturity assessments (34,35).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Health Information System Maturity Assessments to Guide Strategic Priorities: Perspectives from African Leaders

Vumbugwa,

Puttkammer,

Majaha

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Introduction Central to a functional public health system is a strong health information ecosystem and robust data use. Many low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) face the task of digitizing their health information systems (HIS). For health leaders, deciding what to prioritize when investing in HIS strengthening is central to this daunting challenge. Objectives The study explores how HIS maturity assessment contributes to HIS strengthening, describes the facilitators and barriers to HIS maturity assessments, and how health leaders can prioritize conducting maturity assessments. Methods This descriptive qualitative study employed key informant interviews (KIIs) with fourteen eHealth leaders at national and international levels working or supporting Ministries of Health’s national HIS in LMICs. Results were analyzed using Dedoose Version 9.0 to develop themes based on the health systems' building blocks as a framework for identifying facilitators and barriers to conducting HIS maturity assessment. Results Participants identified maturity assessments as a critical beginning step to HIS strengthening, showing the system’s performance, and building a baseline response to systematic data quality challenges. Barriers to conducting HIS maturity assessment include lacking collaborators’ buy-in, fragmented vision, low financial/human resources, and overdependence on donor priorities. Non-supportive policies, a lack of execution champions, and an inadequately skilled workforce in conducting maturity assessments or negotiating for their prioritization hinder maturity assessment implementation. Frequently identified facilitators to promoting HIS maturity assessment include multi-stakeholder engagement, understanding the country’s HIS ecosystem, and priorities to appropriately integrate maturity assessment objectives. Recommendations include capacity building in data use and conducting maturity assessments at all health system levels to grow the demand and value of HIS maturity assessments. Conclusion Promoting HIS maturity assessments can help leaders prioritize areas to improve in the HIS ecosystem, making appropriate decisions that steward HIS maturity advancement. Addressing challenges that hinder HIS assessment implementation holds promise to identify a pathway to a strengthened health system.

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“…African health systems are underperforming in all capacities, and countries need to prioritize on effective interventions (e.g., digital health models and training programs) related to health workforce mobilization and service delivery processes, which are critical tangible elements for improving functionality of health systems in low-and middle-income countries. The WHO Regional Office for Africa has proposed the adoption of a digital health platform to streamline different solutions to a cohesive whole [93].…”

Section: Plos Global Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investments for effective functionality of health systems towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: A scoping review

Karamagi

Charif²,

Kidane

et al. 2022

PLOS Glob Public Health

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The health challenges in Africa underscore the importance of effectively investing in health systems. Unfortunately, there is no information on systems investments adequate for an effective functional health system. We aimed to address this by conducting a scoping review of existing evidence following the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis and preregistered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/bvg4z). We included any empirical research describing interventions that contributed to the functionality of health systems in Africa or any low-income or lower-middle-income regions. We searched Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and ERIC from their inception, and hand-searched other relevant sources. We summarized data using a narrative approach involving thematic syntheses and descriptive statistics. We identified 554 unique reports describing 575 interventions, of which 495 reported evidence of effectiveness. Most interventions were undertaken in Africa (80.9%), covered multiple elements of health systems (median: 3), and focused on service delivery (77.4%) and health workforce (65.6%). Effective interventions contributed to improving single (35.6%) or multiple (64.4%) capacities of health systems: access to essential services (75.6%), quality of care (70.5%), demand for essential services (38.6%), or health systems resilience (13.5%). For example, telemedicine models which covered software (technologies) and hardware (health workers) elements were used as a strategy to address issues of access to essential services. We inventoried these effective interventions for improving health systems functionality in Africa. Further analyses could deepen understanding of how such interventions differ in their incorporation of evidence for potential scale across African countries.

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Strengthening Health Systems Using Innovative Digital Health Technologies in Africa

Cited by 23 publications

References 11 publications

Towards a Healthcare Innovation Scaling Framework—The Voice of the Innovator

Towards a Healthcare Innovation Scaling Framework—The Voice of the Innovator

Leveraging Health Information System Maturity Assessments to Guide Strategic Priorities: Perspectives from African Leaders

Investments for effective functionality of health systems towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: A scoping review

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