The Role of Information and Communications Technology Policies and Infrastructure in Curbing the Spread of the Novel Coronavirus: Cross-country Comparative Study

Abstract

Background Despite worldwide efforts, control of COVID-19 transmission and its after effects is lagging. As seen from the cases of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, worldwide crises associated with infections and their side effects are likely to recur in the future because of extensive international interactions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify the factors that can mitigate disease spread. We observed that the transmission speed and severity of consequences of COVID-19 varied substantially across countries, signaling the need for a country-level investigation. Objective We aimed to investigate how distancing-enabling information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and medical ICT infrastructure, and related policies have affected the cumulative number of confirmed cases, fatality rate, and initial speed of transmission across different countries. Methods We analyzed the determinants of COVID-19 transmission during the relatively early days of the pandemic by conducting regression analysis based on our data for country-level characteristics, including demographics, culture, ICT infrastructure, policies, economic status, and transmission of COVID-19. To gain further insights, we conducted a subsample analysis for countries with low population density. Results Our full sample analysis showed that implied telehealth policy, which refers to the lack of a specific telehealth-related policy but presence of a general eHealth policy, was associated with lower fatality rates when controlled for cultural characteristics (P=.004). In particular, the fatality rate for countries with an implied telehealth policy was lower than that for others by 2.7%. Interestingly, stated telehealth policy, which refers to the existence of a specified telehealth policy, was found to not be associated with lower fatality rates (P=.30). Furthermore, countries with a government-run health website had 36% fewer confirmed cases than those without it, when controlled for cultural characteristics (P=.03). Our analysis further revealed that the interaction between implied telehealth policy and training ICT health was significant (P=.01), suggesting that implied telehealth policy may be more effective when in-service training on ICT is provided to health professionals. In addition, credit card ownership, as an enabler of convenient e-commerce transactions and distancing, showed a negative association with fatality rates in the full sample analysis (P=.04), but not in the subsample analysis (P=.76), highlighting that distancing-enabling ICT is more useful in densely populated countries. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate important relationships between national traits and COVID-19 infections, suggesting guidelines for policymakers to minimize the negative consequences of pandemics. The findings suggest physicians’ autonomous use of medical ICT and strategic allocation of distancing-enabling ICT infrastructure in countries with high population density to maximize efficiency. This study also encourages further research to investigate the role of health policies in combatting COVID-19 and other pandemics.

The Utility of Internet-Enabled Antibiotic Self-Medication and Its Associated Factors Among Patients Attending Private Clinics in Kawempe Division in Kampala Capital City, Uganda: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…2 Additionally, it is anticipated that internet penetration will increase significantly due to the fast growing demand for information and communication technology (ICT), which fosters information access and remote working as posed by the novel Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. [3][4][5][6] On the other hand, this has profoundly acted as an antecedent for irrational antibiotic self-medication and exaggerated the deleterious consequences such as incorrect choice of therapy and misuse, masking of severe disease, risk of drug abuse and toxicity, antibiotic resistance, and preventable deaths. [7][8][9] Self-medication is a global phenomenon practiced by an estimated 32.5% to 81.5% of the population, 10,11 and in Uganda, it was reported to be 22.2% at Mulago National Referral Hospital, 9 and 63.5% among students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology.…”

Status Quo Of Healthcare Systems and Their Impact on Pharmaceutical Industry Performance in African Developing Countries: A Scoping Review

“…The intersectoral connection of a nation's economy implies that as infrastructure in one sector develops, it enhances the growth of other related sectors. If the expansion of above infrastructural factors influences multisectoral socioeconomic outcomes then an impact could also be assumed in the area of healthcare systems and clinical research, including the pharmaceutical industry [2][3][4]. This relationship is particularly evident when a natural event occurs, such as a flood disaster.…”