Challenges of Implementing Health IT on the African Continent - Case Study Example

Challenges of implementing Health IT on the African continent Grade (12th, April. Challenges of implementing Health IT on the African continent Africa is a continent that is bestowed with vast resources and a huge population. However, the continent is the home to most of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in the world, owing to the fact that civilization in Africa came with the concept of colonialism. Nevertheless, after the end of colonialism, the whites went back to their countries, and left Africa to manage its own affair. While great strides have been made in managing the affairs of the continent by different countries in the continent, some have lagged behind in development, owing to the political instability and other natural forces such as the adverse climatic conditions and the environmental factors that poses a lot of challenge to the development of such countries. Consequently, the development of the African continent, especially in the field of health is far behind, compared to other continents of the world (Archangel, 2007). It is not unusual to find many people perishing from the very common and preventable diseases, which are non-existent in other continents, due to the inability of the African health systems to address such illnesses effectively (Edoho, 2011). Therefore, the health systems in the African continent highly require to be addressed. Nevertheless, there are major challenges that might face the implementation of the desired changes in the African health systems, especially regarding the Health IT systems. Therefore, this discussion seeks to focus on the Challenges of implementing Health IT on the African continent, with a view to how such challenges can be overcome. Poor technological infrastructure, normally referred to as the digital divide, is one of the Challenges of implementing Health IT on the African continent (Khosrowpour, 2006).Technology in Africa is not only a challenge in the health sector, but in every other aspect of the technology application. By the year 2007, it was estimated that the access to technology was limited to a small percentage of the African continents population, including the telephone connectivity, the internet and the mobile phones accessibility. It was estimated that by then, only 1.5 in every 100 people had telephone connections in Africa (Edoho, 2011). The access to mobile phone subscriptions was estimated at 22.9% in every 100 people of the African population, while the level of internet accessibility was even lower, with the African continent having a meager internet accessibility of 3.7% for every 100 people of the African population. The African technological data is in sharp contrast with the global average technological data accessibility, where the internet accessibility, according to the global average was set at 20.6 for every 100 people globally (Edoho, 2011). The implementation of Health IT systems requires robust infrastructure, to ensure that data and information communication can easily be done by health professionals, health providers and other health institutions and agencies. The application of health IT systems is aimed at ensuring that the health information is gathered, stored, retrieved, analyzed and transmitted to the necessary information users, in the most timely manner (Archangel, 2007). However, all this cannot be achieved without a good infrastructural framework that allows for such gathering, storage, analysis and the transmission of the health information. The challenge with the African continent is that; it does not have a robust technological infrastructure, which would enhance the connectivity of the health systems and health facilities, thus enhancing transmission and sharing of information (Khosrowpour, 2006). Both satellite technology and the internet are limitedly developed in Africa, with only some countries managing to have access to such technology, though on a limited basis and restricted to the urban areas only. Considering the differences in such technological accessibility data, it is evident that Africa lags behind by a far margin, especially in the accessibility of the internet and other mobile phone communication technology, which are essential aspects of the IT systems that would be needed to effect the Health IT systems implementation in the African continent. The bandwidths for the African region both for the mobile phones and the internet are very little, which makes the accessibility of both internet and the mobile phone connectivity a major challenge (Edoho, 2011).This hinders the attempts to implement the health IT systems in Africa. Building the infrastructural framework for the internet and the satellite technology to cover the whole of African continent, including the very rural areas, is a great challenge that calls for high commitment of resources as well as time (Okpaku, 2005). Thus, it is only when the infrastructure for technology in Africa improves, that the Health IT system can then be installed effectively, to help in the management of health information and health records. Economic challenges forms another challenge to the implementation of Health IT on the African continent. The costs required for the implementation of the Health IT systems by many African countries and their health institutions in Africa are high, and thus are beyond their budgets (Zeleza, 2003). Most of the African countries are categorized as underdeveloped, while only few of them qualify to be categorized as developing countries. The major problem for the implementation is the fact that; such technological implementation in the African health sector is required on a large scale basis, since it entails the connectivity of many health facilities, institutions and agencies, to enhance the sharing of the health data (Khosrowpour, 2006). The implementation of the health IT systems in Africa requires that the bandwidth for the internet and other technological devices must be expended, since the internet and mobile devices bandwidth for the African continent is very little, which poses the challenge of data communication and transmission, considering that such data transmission would occur at a very low rate, make it inefficient for the health professionals, institutions and agencies utilizing the system (Okpaku, 2005). The economic situation and the financial constraints faced by both the African countries and the health institutions, acts as the basis for hindering the implementation of the Health IT systems for the African continent, since such countries cannot afford all the expenses that comes with the installation of such health systems, which may include the computerization costs. Thus, the African continent has been forced to depend on the financing by the donors, which cannot be effectively applied to serve the whole continent’s technological needs. Policy environment is yet another challenge to the implementation of the Health IT systems in the African continent. The computer industry and the communication industry of many African countries do not have effective policy framework for supporting technology and its use in these countries. Without the appropriate policy environment support by the government, the implementation of such Health IT system becomes a major challenge, since the health providers, institutions, and professionals cannot afford to work through the modalities of installing such systems, owing to the legal policy framework desirable to have such systems installed (Khosrowpour, 2006). Lack of coordinated policy framework for the technological industry is highly risky, considering that there are major hazards that are associated with the external motives of the hackers and other intruders into the technological systems. The policy environment requires that governments and their agencies put the necessary measures, laws and regulations in place, to ensure that when such Health IT systems are installed by the health institutions and facilities, they are protected against the damaging acts of the IT intruders (Danofsky, 2005). Therefore, while the health care providers, professionals and other related institutions may be interested in overseeing the implementation of the Health IT systems in Africa, their enthusiasm is less relevant, compared to the policy implementation by the government, which would enhance the security, safety and the effective operation of such systems. Technological literacy and expertise also serves as another aspect that hinders the effective implementation of Health IT on the African continent (Archangel, 2007). There are very few technology experts in the African continent, who are capable of developing the required programs and installing such programs to the Health IT systems of the countries within the African continent. Technological expertise is essential for the development, installation and maintenance of the health IT systems, since technological systems are highly dynamic, and thus they keep changing in terms of requirements with each passing day (Zeleza, 2003). The type of education offered in most of the African countries is mostly based on literacy and academics, aimed at enabling the people to read and write, at the expense of the highly technical education, which teaches students the practical skills that are applicable in real life circumstances, such as the technology. Additionally, the economical situation of the African countries as well as the financial constraints experienced by such countries makes it difficult for the countries to venture more into technological education, considering that there lacks adequate resources to purchase the technological equipments and hire technology experts to teach the valuable technological skills to the African students (Edoho, 2011). This way, the African continent lags behind in the technological knowledge and skills, and thus creates a shortage of the technological experts who can effectively develop, install, maintain and address the subsequent problems that would arise from the Health IT systems for the African continent. This shortage serves to make the implementation of the Health IT on the African continent a major challenge. The African social and cultural factors also play a great role in creating challenges for implementing Health IT on the African continent. The African continent has lagged behind in civilization, and thus the application of the traditional and the customary medical practices is still rampant in the African continent. This way, a substantial percentage of the African population opts for the traditional methods of treatment, at the expense of the medical attention and services offered by the health facilities (Zeleza, 2003). Therefore, while the rest of the continents are concentrating on improving their health systems to address the health challenges facing their populations, the African continent is grappling with the challenge of motivating its population to seek the services of the health providers. Additionally, many cultures and customs of the African people are a hindrance to the technological application, since they hinder the achievement of education and literacy by the members of such communities. This way, it becomes extremely difficult for the implementation of the Health IT systems, since such systems do not have the requisite medical data from the patients to be stored, analyzed and transmitted by the implemented health IT systems (Danofsky, 2005). Lack of education and literacy hinders both the installation of the Health IT systems as well as their use, while also making the motivation for such implementation by the health providers and the health institutions minimal. Without the motivation to improve the management of the health system, it becomes difficult to create an opportunity for the introduction of the health IT systems. Conclusion Africa is a continent that is bestowed with vast resources. However, it is the home to some of the most underdeveloped countries. Health care is one of the area in which the African continent lags behind, and its improvement through the implementation of Health IT has proved to be a major challenge. Among the factors contributing to the difficulty of implementing Health IT in the African continent includes lack of technological literacy and expertise, poor infrastructure and the poor state of most of the African economies. References Archangel, N. (2007).The critical issues affecting the introduction of Health Management Information Systems in developing countries in Africa. University of Amsterdam. Danofsky, S. (2005). Open access for Africa: Challenges, recommendations and examples. New York: UN ICT Task Force. Edoho, F. M. (2001). Management challenges for Africa in the twenty-first century: Theoretical and applied perspectives. Westport, Conn [u.a.: Praeger. Khosrowpour, M. (2006). Emerging trends and challenges in information technology management. Hershey, Penn: Idea Group. Okpaku, J. (2005). Information and communication technologies for African development. New York, NY: United Nations, ICT Task Force. Zeleza, T. (2003). In search of modernity: Science and technology in Africa. Trenton, NJ [u.a.: Africa World Press. Read More