A situational review of national Digital Health strategy implementation in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

As the global communities approach 2030, towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Good health and well-being), there are commendable technology-driven efforts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to address health care system-related challenges, including the development of national Digital Health strategies. While these strategies are supposed to drive health care systems strengthening for health security, the extent to which they are being operationalised, implemented and impact measurement is scarcely reported. The Digital Health strategies have expiry timelines and do not consider the integration or implications of Industry 4.0 technology advancements on the health sector. The authors make a probable claim that national Digital Health strategies may not achieve their objectives without adequate re-assessments and that the scarce reporting constitutes a transdisciplinary gap between government-led health authorities, health care practitioners and academic research collaboration. Hence, the objective of this article was to conduct a review of existing peer-reviewed literature that have somewhat investigated implementation of Digital Health strategies in SSA. The findings suggest that inadequate capacity to monitor and report progress, limited available resources and the lack of Digital Health leadership are three of the critical factors that contribute to the uncoordinated and slow pace at which national Digital Health strategies are being operationalised in SSA.

Transdisciplinary contribution: The article advocates for a transdisciplinary approach through strategic stakeholder engagement between relevant health authorities, academia, industry and non-scientific stakeholders to coordinate, monitor, assess and in reporting extent of national Digital Health strategies implementation, towards UN SDG 3.