Towards interoperable e-Health system in Tanzania: analysis and evaluation of the current security trends and big data sharing dynamics

Abstract

In this paper an insight on various e-health interoperable systems was reviewed to discover strengths and challenges faced during sustainable implementation. It covered local, national and regional coverage of integrated systems towards implementation of a single unified e-health system. Peer reviewed and grey literatures were consulted to discover global and local trend and efforts towards implementations of e-health interoperable systems. The available systems and frameworks from the European Union, Asia, America, Oceania and Africa were analyzed for their strengths and challenges. Various policies, guides as well as free and proprietary standards associated with e-health interoperability was reviewed to understand the common standards adopted by the majority of existing systems. The findings of the analysis are useful for policy makers on the best ways to implement interoperable systems in developing countries by focusing on the existing infrastructures and the environment. Similarly, the strengths and challenges encountered by interoperablesystems were also examined to provide recommendations for future studies.

Application of blockchain technology in strengthening health information system security: a case study of Mount Meru referral hospital

“…Challenges of security threats to shared data storage security and privacy in Mauritius, South Africa, Rwanda, and Kenya were discovered by Mtey and Dida (2019). This was also observed by Gordon and Catalini (2018), and Kamau et al (2018) that these challenges are due to the lack of security and privacy of HIS.…”

“…Health Information Systems in Tanzania are faced with security challenges regarding data privacy and confidentiality in information and data sharing (Kajirunga & Kalegele, 2015;Kombe, 2020;Nehemiah, 2014). Kombe et al (2018), Mtebe and Nakaka (2018), and Mtey and Dida (2019) discovered the same challenges on data security and privacy facing HIS. These security challenges are also reported by Tanzania Computer Emergency Response Team (TZ-CERT) from 1 st January 2019 to 9 August 2021, that several system attacks resulted from malicious IPs, malware, and web attacks (Team, 2019(Team, -2021.…”

“…Information exchange and data sharing are confidential, but if the security of any of the system components is compromised, this results in breaching of the whole system's security (Haule et al, 2019;Khamis & Njau, 2014;Kombe et al, 2019;Mtey & Dida, 2019).…”