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State of Digital Health Communication Infrastructure in LMICs: Theory, Standards and Factors Affecting Their Implementation

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Current and Future Trends in Health and Medical Informatics

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 1112))

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Abstract

Healthcare data sharing is vital to the future of patient-centred care. However, it is challenged by weaknesses inherent in the communication infrastructure that support such data sharing. A key challenge has been pinned on the poor standardisation of digital health systems that make up the communication infrastructure thereby affecting the collection, processing, storage and transmission of health data/client’s electronic medical records. This chapter presents experiences from Uganda regards progress in standardisation. A scoping literature review informed conceptualisation of digital health standardisation to involve setting standards context, standards development process, and implementation plus compliance monitoring. These three constructs guided the exploration of Uganda’s state of digital health standardisation, conducted in four regions of the country. Whereas qualitative data collected were analysed using a thematic approach, the quantitative data was statistically analysed. Findings showed unstandardised implementations of digital health devices and applications, disparate and intermittent network connectivity with poor quality of service, limited digital health use skills, and inadequate facilitating resources. Further exploration attributed these limitations to weaknesses in the standardisation process and a lack of contextual standards to guide digital health implementations. Further works will develop a framework for fast-tracking the standardisation of the digital health communication infrastructure in low-resource health systems like Uganda.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Busitema University, Tororo, Uganda

    Andrew Egwar Alunyu

  2. Department of Information Systems, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

    Andrew Egwar Alunyu, Mercy Rebekah Amiyo & Josephine Nabukenya

Authors
  1. Andrew Egwar Alunyu
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  2. Mercy Rebekah Amiyo
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  3. Josephine Nabukenya
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Correspondence to Andrew Egwar Alunyu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI, USA

    Kevin Daimi

  2. Asia Pacific International College, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Abeer Alsadoon

  3. School of Engineering, Polytechnique Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Sara Seabra Dos Reis

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Alunyu, A.E., Amiyo, M.R., Nabukenya, J. (2023). State of Digital Health Communication Infrastructure in LMICs: Theory, Standards and Factors Affecting Their Implementation. In: Daimi, K., Alsadoon, A., Seabra Dos Reis, S. (eds) Current and Future Trends in Health and Medical Informatics. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 1112. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42112-9_6

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