ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

UR-CMHS / RWAMAGANA CAMPUS

ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

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UR-CMHS/RWAMAGANA CAMPUS-LEVEL 1A
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
INTRODUCTION---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BODY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABBREVIATIONS

ICTs: information and communication technologies

IS: information system

PHC: primary health care

MDGs: millennium development goals

E-health: electronic health

WHO: world health organization

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome

OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

DFID: Department for International Development
ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

Introduction

In this digital age, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are considered to be
the ‘catalysts to development’. Many studies demonstrate that information system (IS) can
make significant contribution to the health sector particularly in the primary health care
(PHC) in developing countries. However, such studies are insufficient due to the pilot
syndrome of HICT projects. Argues that the poor and the health professionals are the major
targets of health-related millennium development goals (MDGs). But most of the world’s
poor (about 75 per cent) and significant numbers of health workers live in the rural areas
and often remain in the wrong side of the digital divide. Therefore, researchers advocate
that traditional approach of ICT intervention is not a solution because they do not address
the livelihoods of the poor and cannot bring them to the access to ICTs. Thus, the result is
the information gap in the health communication.

A number of studies on electronic health (e-health) show that digital ICTs in the health
sector face tremendous constraints and do not produce desired outcome. Development
informatics researchers claim that one of the main reasons of such a setback is the lack of
understanding of ‘information first’ approach in electronic development (e-development)
initiatives. They opine that the understanding of the ability of the poor to access, to assess,
and to apply information and to act upon it, is important before mediating any ICT
initiative. This is because the poor are entangled with numerous vulnerabilities in their
livelihoods
The impacts of the role of ICTs in this data-information-knowledge continuum are of great
value in development informatics since ICT embodies the ‘message’ (information), the
‘cement’ (communication) and the ‘vehicle’ (technology). The discourse on issues of
technological rationality indicates that the medium is not the message (information) but it
strongly affects it. Health is at the heart of the MDGs, in recognition of the fact that health is
central to the global agenda of reducing poverty as well as an important measure of human
development

(WHO, 2005). Three of the eight MDGs are directly health-related:

• Reduce child mortality (goal 4)
• Improve maternal health (goal 5)
• Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (goal 6)
The other MDGs include health-related targets and reflect many of the social, economic,
Environmental, and gender-related determinants that have an impact on people’s health.
Achieving them will also contribute to improvements in the health status of millions of
people
Around the world. These targets include:
• eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (goal 1);
• improving education (goal 2);
• Empowering and educating women (goal 3);
• improving water and sanitation systems (a key component of goal 7); and
• improving international partnerships (among other things to improve access to
Affordable, essential drugs on a sustainable baMany development institutions have
explored the connection between ICTs and efforts to reduce poverty and
Achieve the other MDGs, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD – 2003),
The U.K. Department for International Development (DFID – Marker, et al, 2002), and the
Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA – Greenberg, 2005). The main conclusion of these
and other studies is
ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

That ICTs, when incorporated effectively into development programs can be useful tools in
efforts to reach the
MDGs.
The World Bank (2003) argues that there is growing evidence of the ability of ICTs to:
• provide new and more efficient methods of production;
• bring previously unattainable markets within the reach of the poor;
• improve the delivery of government services; and
• facilitate management and transfer of knowledge.
SIDA adds that, increasingly, examples can be found “where the thoughtful use of ICTs has
markedly addressed
Various aspects of poverty. Despite the various pitfalls associated with deploying ICT
projects, there is growing
Evidence that the use of ICTs can be a critical and required component of addressing some
facets of poverty.
It is quite clear that ICTs themselves will not eradicate poverty, but it is equally clear that
many aspects of poverty will
Not be eradicated without the well-thought-out use of ICTs.“ (Greenberg, 2005)
At the same time, it is difficult, if not impossible, to establish ‘”proven empirical links”
between the use of ICTs and
The achievement of the MDGs. As the UN ICT Task Force (2003) points out: ‘measuring the
impact of ICT on
Health generally seems to be fairly difficult because there are obviously many other factors
that impact health’.
Sources: The OECD (2003), DFID (Marker, et al, 2002), the World Bank (2003), and SIDA
(Greenberg, 2005) sis – goal 8).
Disciplines, informatics makes right information available to the right people, within and
without an organization, at the right time and place and for the right price.2
So, the true focus of health informatics is on ‘handling health information’ - ICTs are just
tools to facilitate information management. this involves two fundamental aspects:
technology and information management. Technology aspect emphasizes on the best
technology for achieving the desired outcome while information management places
importance on key components of non-technical issues, e.g. information - for whom, where
and when.99 Consumer health informatics, a subset of health informatics under socio-
technical context7, focuses on identifying consumer information needs and developing
systems and strategies to enable consumers to access that information.
As identified by researchers, information & communication is one of the basic pillars in any
health system that can benefit from the use of ICTs.identified three broad categories where
ICTs can be harnessed for improving health service:
199 Submitted: November 3, 2010 Accepted: February 15, 2011 Journal of Health
Informatics in Developing Countries
Functioning of health care systems e.g. patient records and hospital management, health
care delivery through direct use of ICTs and communication around health. However, the
reality is that ICT initiatives in electronic patient record have often proved to be
unsuccessful in many cases even in developed countries.12,35,41 In case of developing
countries, these ambitious applications have not been widely diffused because they are not
used by the majority of the world’s poor who represent a significant portion in
development.39 As a result, most ICT projects cannot sustain due to the failure to achieve
their intended goals and ultimately become unsustainable.32,58
Health is considered to be the ‘heart’ of MDGs because it is central to the global agenda of
poverty reduction and crucial measure of human development.40,101 Out of eight MDGs,
three are directly related to health: Reducing child mortality (goal 4), improving maternal
health (goal 5) and Combating HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (goal 6). Each goal
to be achieved by 2015 has specific targets and indicators to measure the progress which
are summarized in Table 1 below:
 Health-related MDGs & their Targets to be Achieved by 2015. Targets Strategies/Indicators/Focuses
MDGs
4. Reduce child mortality 5. Reduce by two-thirds, by 2015, the
under-5 mortality rate
Immunization

5. Improve maternal health 6. Reduce by three-quarters, by 2015, the

maternal mortality ratio
Delivery assistance by skilled health
personnel

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to
reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Reduction in HIV prevalence among
8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to
pregnant women
reverse the incidence of malaria and
other major diseases
Increase of contraceptive use rate

Spread of comprehensive knowledge

about HIV/AIDS

Reduction in prevalence and death

rates associated with malaria &
tuberculosis.
According to WHO, the use of ICTs in health is not merely about technology (Dzenowagis,
2005), but a means to reach a series of desired outcomes, such as:
• health workers making better treatment decisions;
• Hospitals providing higher quality and safer care;
• People making informed choices about their own health;
• Governments becoming more responsive to health needs;
• National and local information systems supporting the development of effective, efficient,
and equitable health systems;
• Policymakers and the public becoming more aware of health risks; and
• People having better access to the information and knowledge they need for better health.
The evidence regarding ICTs in health is usefully viewed with reference to the key aspects
of the WHO e-health strategy, summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Key aspects of the WHO e-health strategy
Policy
- Ensure public policies support effective and equitable e-health systems.
- Facilitate a collaborative approach to e-health development.
- Monitor internationally accepted goals and targets for e-health.
- Represent the health perspective in international gatherings on major ICT issues.
- Strengthen ICT in health education and training in countries, supporting a multilingual
and
Multicultural approach.
Equitable access
- Commitment by WHO, Member States, and partners to reaching health communities and
all populations, including vulnerable groups, with e-health appropriate to their needs.
Best use
- Analyze e-health evolution, impact on health; anticipate emerging challenges and
opportunities.
- Provide evidence, information and guidance to support policy, best practice, and
Management of e-health systems and services.
- Identify and address needs for e-health norms and standards, innovation, and research.
Source: World Health Organization (WHO), 2004.
ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

ICTs have been used in various ways to help achieve outcomes such as these. Table 2 sets
out some of the potential uses identified by Cagliari and her colleagues in 2001.
Any health system needs to rest on basic pillars. These are four key ones identified by the
Disease Control Priorities Project in its latest publication, Priorities in Health (Jamison,
2006):
• Information, surveillance, and research.
• Management of health services.
• Human resources.
• Financing.
Clearly each of these pillars can benefit from the use of ICTs. In practice, the use of ICTs in
The health sector has tended to focus on three broad categories that incorporate these
pillars:
1. Improving the functioning of health care systems by improving the management
Of information and access to that information, including:
• Management of logistics of patient care,
• Administrative systems;
15
• Patient records; and
• ordering and billing systems.
2. Improving the delivery of health care through better diagnosis, better mapping of
Public health threats, better training and sharing of knowledge among health workers,
And supporting health workers in primary health care, particularly rural health care,
Including:
• Biomedical literature search and retrieval;
• continuing professional development of health workers;
• Telemedicine and remote diagnostic support;
• Diagnostic imaging;
• Critical decision support systems;
• Quality assurance systems; and
• Disease surveillance and epidemiology.
3. Improving communication about health, including improved information flows
ROLE OF ICT IN HEALTH SECTOR

Among health workers and the general public, better opportunities for health
Promotion and health communication; and improved feedback on the impact of health
Services and interventions, including:
• Patient information,
• Interactive communication,
• Media approaches,
• Health research, and
• Advocacy to improve services.

.
Conclusions
The scope of this study has been finite and modest, and it is hoped that the knowledge gaps
And other identified areas of focus highlighted in this paper will be further researched to
build a strong body of evidence and analysis about ICT and health.
It is also clear that even at this early stage in the evolution of ICTs, there is a developing
Body of evidence, primarily in the western context, which points to a range of benefits and
efficiency savings for individuals and institutions in health. This body of evidence is not
easily
Transposed onto developing country context, and the range of contextual issues around the
World mean that ready-fit, “one e-fits-all” conclusions are difficult and dangerous to make.
However the range of benefits that are being highlighted in various small-scale case studies
Are building a base of tentative evidence in the developing world for the application of ICT
Strategies. These provide a compelling indication that there are benefits in ICT
Implementation in health, but that they need to be understood in context and scaled up
Carefully.
Seven broad conclusions can be drawn about the use of ICTs in the health sector. These
Seven should be applicable at all levels, and although they are expressed simply here, the
Complexity of putting them into practice is one of the biggest challenges we face in
ensuring that the health system benefits, that health workers benefits, and that the people
who make use of the health system – the patients and citizens – benefit and their health
improves.
1. Keep the technology simple, relevant and local.
2. Build on what is there (and being used).
3. Involve users in the design (by demonstrating benefit).
4. Strengthen capacity to use, work with and develop effective ICTs.
5. Introduce greater monitoring and evaluation, particularly participatory approaches.
6. Include communication strategies in the design of ICT projects.
7. Continue to research and share learning about what works, and what fails
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