Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

The agenda for Universal Health Coverage has driven the exploration of various innovative approaches to expanding health services to the general population. As more African countries have adopted digital health tools as part of the strategic approach to expanding health services, there is a need for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Frontiers in digital health Vol. 4; p. 876957
Main Authors:	Owoyemi, Ayomide, Osuchukwu, Joanne I., Azubuike, Clark, Ikpe, Ronald Kelechi, Nwachukwu, Blessing C., Akinde, Cassandra B., Biokoro, Grace W., Ajose, Abisoye B., Nwokoma, Ezechukwu Ikenna, Mfon, Nehemiah E., Benson, Temitope O., Ehimare, Anthony, Irowa-Omoregie, Daniel, Olaniran, Seun
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A 03-06-2022
Subjects:	Africa community health Digital Health eHealth mHealth primary health
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The agenda for Universal Health Coverage has driven the exploration of various innovative approaches to expanding health services to the general population. As more African countries have adopted digital health tools as part of the strategic approach to expanding health services, there is a need for defining a standard framework for implementation across board. Therefore, there is a need to review and employ an evidence-based approach to inform managing challenges, adopting best approaches, and implement informed recommendations. We reviewed a variety of digital health tools applied to different health conditions in primary care settings and highlighted the challenges faced, approaches that worked and relevant recommendations. These include limited coverage and network connectivity, lack of technological competence, lack of power supply, limited mobile phone usage and application design challenges. Despite these challenges, this review suggests that mHealth solutions could attain effective usage when healthcare workers receive adequate onsite training, deploying applications designed in an intuitive and easy to understand approach in a manner that fits into the users existing workflows, and involvement of the stakeholders at all levels in the design, planning, and implementation stages of the interventions.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 Reviewed by: Karmen S. Williams, City College of New York (CUNY), United States; Jing Zhang, Peking University, China This article was submitted to Health Technology Innovation, a section of the journal Frontiers in Digital Health These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship Edited by: Joseph Okeibunor, World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa, Republic of Congo
ISSN:	2673-253X 2673-253X
DOI:	10.3389/fdgth.2022.876957