The weak capacity is attributable to both intrinsic and extrinsic challenges which continue to decimate the ability of the health system of these countries to perform optimally. The intrinsic challenges are linked to the quality and quantities of investments in the health system building blocks such as health governance, financing, human resources for health, health information management and essential medicines and medical supplies which hamper the ability to deliver equitable and quality essential health services that people need.
Coupled with this are extrinsic challenges including social, environmental, cultural, economic, political and physical barriers which limit access to health care. The COVID-19 pandemic, recurring outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Cholera, Measles and now Monkeypox coupled with perennial incidents of conflicts and natural disasters have further aggravated these health system challenges.
Attainment of global health and related development goals on the continent thus require innovative ways of applying existing investments and new innovations to overcome the foregoing challenges and deliver good quality essential health services -a role that Digital Health Innovations (DHIs) can effectively play. Globally and in Africa, DHIs have been successfully deployed to address medical challenges in both clinical and public health medicine at the individual, community and health facility levels.
They have been shown to improve efficiency in health service delivery, reduce the cost of healthcare, improve access to health information and provide timely health information for evidence-based decision making.
However, the implementation of DHI programmes has been constrained by several factors on the continent. While many African countries have developed and adopted digital health/eHealth technology strategies, their effective implementation is constrained by inadequate digital health governance and legal frameworks, and weak institutional capacity for planning, implementation, supervision, monitoring, evaluation and sustainable funding of such strategies.
Furthermore, mushrooming of multiple and parallel digital health/eHealth initiatives most of which are not interoperable, the dearth of digitally educated health workers and lack of data ownership and security frameworks continue to constrain the effective roll-out and sustainability of DHIs.
Other challenges include unreliable information and electronic communication and sustainable power infrastructures particularly in the rural and hard-to-reach areas of the continent.
Successful deployment of DHIs in Africa would require better understanding of the factors which facilitate or hinder effective and sustainable implementation of such innovations from a practical and evidence-based point of view.
A Guest Editorial