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Digital health systems strengthening in Africa for rapid response to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has painfully exposed the constraints of fragile health systems in low- and middle-income countries, where global containment measures largely set by high-income countries resulted in disproportionate collateral damage. In Africa, a shift is urgently needed from emergency respo...
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Published in: | Frontiers in health services 2022-11, Vol.2, p.987828-987828 |
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creator | Rinke de Wit, Tobias F Janssens, Wendy Antwi, Maxwell Milimo, Emmanuel Mutegi, Nick Marwa, Heri Ndili, Njide Owino, Wasunna Waiyaiya, Emma Garcia Rojas, Diana C Dolfing, Monique de Graaff, Aafke Swanepoel, Ruan van der Graaf, Mark H Mulder, Dorien De Sanctis, Teresa Kratule, Santa Koyuncu, Cem Rogo, Khama Gómez-Pérez, Gloria P Spieker, Nicole |
description | The COVID-19 pandemic has painfully exposed the constraints of fragile health systems in low- and middle-income countries, where global containment measures largely set by high-income countries resulted in disproportionate collateral damage. In Africa, a shift is urgently needed from emergency response to structural health systems strengthening efforts, which requires coordinated interventions to increase access, efficiency, quality, transparency, equity, and flexibility of health services. We postulate that rapid digitalization of health interventions is a key way forward to increase resilience of African health systems to epidemic challenges. In this paper we describe how PharmAccess' ongoing digital health system interventions in Africa were rapidly customized to respond to COVID-19. We describe how we developed: a COVID-19 App for healthcare providers used by more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in 15 African countries from May-November 2020; digital loans to support private healthcare providers with USD 20 million disbursed to healthcare facilities impacted by COVID-19 in Kenya; a customized Dutch mobile COVID-19 triage App with 4,500 users in Ghana; digital diaries to track COVID-19 impacts on household expenditures and healthcare utilization; a public-private partnership for real-time assessment of COVID-19 diagnostics in West-Kenya; and an expanded mobile phone-based maternal and child-care bundle to include COVID-19 adapted services. We also discuss the challenges we faced, the lessons learned, the impact of these interventions on the local healthcare system, and the implications of our findings for policy-making. Digital interventions bring efficiency due to their flexibility and timeliness, allowing co-creation, targeting, and rapid policy decisions through bottom-up approaches. COVID-19 digital innovations allowed for cross-pollinating the interests of patients, providers, payers, and policy-makers in challenging times, showing how such approaches can pave the way to universal health coverage and resilient healthcare systems in Africa. |
doi_str_mv | 10.3389/frhs.2022.987828 |
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In Africa, a shift is urgently needed from emergency response to structural health systems strengthening efforts, which requires coordinated interventions to increase access, efficiency, quality, transparency, equity, and flexibility of health services. We postulate that rapid digitalization of health interventions is a key way forward to increase resilience of African health systems to epidemic challenges. In this paper we describe how PharmAccess' ongoing digital health system interventions in Africa were rapidly customized to respond to COVID-19. We describe how we developed: a COVID-19 App for healthcare providers used by more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in 15 African countries from May-November 2020; digital loans to support private healthcare providers with USD 20 million disbursed to healthcare facilities impacted by COVID-19 in Kenya; a customized Dutch mobile COVID-19 triage App with 4,500 users in Ghana; digital diaries to track COVID-19 impacts on household expenditures and healthcare utilization; a public-private partnership for real-time assessment of COVID-19 diagnostics in West-Kenya; and an expanded mobile phone-based maternal and child-care bundle to include COVID-19 adapted services. We also discuss the challenges we faced, the lessons learned, the impact of these interventions on the local healthcare system, and the implications of our findings for policy-making. Digital interventions bring efficiency due to their flexibility and timeliness, allowing co-creation, targeting, and rapid policy decisions through bottom-up approaches. COVID-19 digital innovations allowed for cross-pollinating the interests of patients, providers, payers, and policy-makers in challenging times, showing how such approaches can pave the way to universal health coverage and resilient healthcare systems in Africa.</description><identifier>ISSN: 2813-0146</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 2813-0146</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.3389/frhs.2022.987828</identifier><identifier>PMID: 36925782</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Switzerland: Frontiers Media S.A</publisher><subject>Health Services</subject><ispartof>Frontiers in health services, 2022-11, Vol.2, p.987828-987828</ispartof><rights>Copyright © 2022 Rinke de Wit, Janssens, Antwi, Milimo, Mutegi, Marwa, Ndili, Owino, Waiyaiya, Garcia Rojas, Dolfing, de Graaff, Swanepoel, van der Graaf, Mulder, De Sanctis, Kratule, Koyuncu, Rogo, Gómez-Pérez and Spieker.</rights><rights>Copyright © 2022 Rinke de Wit, Janssens, Antwi, Milimo, Mutegi, Marwa, Ndili, Owino, Waiyaiya, Garcia Rojas, Dolfing, de Graaff, Swanepoel, van der Graaf, Mulder, De Sanctis, Kratule, Koyuncu, Rogo, Gómez-Pérez and Spieker. 2022 Rinke de Wit, Janssens, Antwi, Milimo, Mutegi, Marwa, Ndili, Owino, Waiyaiya, Garcia Rojas, Dolfing, de Graaff, Swanepoel, van der Graaf, Mulder, De Sanctis, Kratule, Koyuncu, Rogo, Gómez-Pérez and Spieker</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c397t-c6d68ae115d21891eeed611c02847f62860a12d85047bcb63344c15427ab8a193</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c397t-c6d68ae115d21891eeed611c02847f62860a12d85047bcb63344c15427ab8a193</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10012758/pdf/$$EPDF$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$Hfree_for_read</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10012758/$$EHTML$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$Hfree_for_read</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>230,315,733,786,790,891,27957,27958,53827,53829</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36925782$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><creatorcontrib>Rinke de Wit, Tobias F</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Janssens, Wendy</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Antwi, Maxwell</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Milimo, Emmanuel</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Mutegi, Nick</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Marwa, Heri</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Ndili, Njide</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Owino, Wasunna</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Waiyaiya, Emma</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Garcia Rojas, Diana C</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Dolfing, Monique</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>de Graaff, Aafke</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Swanepoel, Ruan</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>van der Graaf, Mark H</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Mulder, Dorien</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>De Sanctis, Teresa</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Kratule, Santa</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Koyuncu, Cem</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Rogo, Khama</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Gómez-Pérez, Gloria P</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Spieker, Nicole</creatorcontrib><title>Digital health systems strengthening in Africa for rapid response to COVID-19</title><title>Frontiers in health services</title><addtitle>Front Health Serv</addtitle><description>The COVID-19 pandemic has painfully exposed the constraints of fragile health systems in low- and middle-income countries, where global containment measures largely set by high-income countries resulted in disproportionate collateral damage. 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We describe how we developed: a COVID-19 App for healthcare providers used by more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in 15 African countries from May-November 2020; digital loans to support private healthcare providers with USD 20 million disbursed to healthcare facilities impacted by COVID-19 in Kenya; a customized Dutch mobile COVID-19 triage App with 4,500 users in Ghana; digital diaries to track COVID-19 impacts on household expenditures and healthcare utilization; a public-private partnership for real-time assessment of COVID-19 diagnostics in West-Kenya; and an expanded mobile phone-based maternal and child-care bundle to include COVID-19 adapted services. We also discuss the challenges we faced, the lessons learned, the impact of these interventions on the local healthcare system, and the implications of our findings for policy-making. Digital interventions bring efficiency due to their flexibility and timeliness, allowing co-creation, targeting, and rapid policy decisions through bottom-up approaches. 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Msandeni Esther Chiume, Ministry of Health, Eswatini</notes><notes>These authors have contributed equally to this work</notes><notes>Edited by: Joris Van De Klundert, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Chile</notes><abstract>The COVID-19 pandemic has painfully exposed the constraints of fragile health systems in low- and middle-income countries, where global containment measures largely set by high-income countries resulted in disproportionate collateral damage. 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We describe how we developed: a COVID-19 App for healthcare providers used by more than 1,000 healthcare facilities in 15 African countries from May-November 2020; digital loans to support private healthcare providers with USD 20 million disbursed to healthcare facilities impacted by COVID-19 in Kenya; a customized Dutch mobile COVID-19 triage App with 4,500 users in Ghana; digital diaries to track COVID-19 impacts on household expenditures and healthcare utilization; a public-private partnership for real-time assessment of COVID-19 diagnostics in West-Kenya; and an expanded mobile phone-based maternal and child-care bundle to include COVID-19 adapted services. We also discuss the challenges we faced, the lessons learned, the impact of these interventions on the local healthcare system, and the implications of our findings for policy-making. 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subjects | Health Services |
title | Digital health systems strengthening in Africa for rapid response to COVID-19 |
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