Regulatory Standards and Guidance for the Use of Health Apps for Self-Management in Sub-Saharan Africa: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Health apps are increasingly recognized as crucial tools for enhancing health care delivery. Many countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, can substantially benefit from using health apps to support self-management and thus help to achieve universal health coverage and the third sustainable development goal. However, most health apps published in app stores are of unknown or poor quality, which poses a risk to patient safety. Regulatory standards and guidance can help address this risk and promote patient safety. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to assess the regulatory standards and guidance for health apps supporting evidence-based best practices in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on self-management. METHODS: A methodological framework for scoping reviews was applied. A search strategy was built and applied across the following databases, gray literature sources, and institutional websites: PubMed, Scopus, World Health Organization (WHO) African Index Medicus, OpenGrey, WHO Regional Office for Africa Library, ICTworks, WHO Directory of eHealth policies, HIS Strengthening Resource Center, International Telecommunication Union, Ministry of Health websites, and Google. The search covered the period between January 2005 and January 2024. The findings were analyzed using a deductive descriptive content analysis. The policy analysis framework was adapted and used to organize the findings. The Reporting Items for Stakeholder Analysis tool guided the identification and mapping of key stakeholders based on their roles in regulating health apps for self-management. RESULTS: The study included 49 documents from 31 sub-Saharan African countries. While all the documents were relevant for stakeholder identification and mapping, only 3 regulatory standards and guidance contained relevant information on regulation of health apps. These standards and guidance primarily aimed to build mutual trust; promote integration, inclusion, and equitable access to services; and address implementation issues and poor coordination. They provided guidance on systems quality, software acquisition and maintenance, security measures, data exchange, interoperability and integration, involvement of relevant stakeholders, and equitable access to services. To enhance implementation, the standards highlight that legal authority, coordination of activities, building capacity, and monitoring and evaluation are required. A number of stakeholders, including governments, regulatory bodies, funders, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the health care community, were identified to play key roles in regulating health apps. CONCLUSIONS: Health apps have huge potential to support self-management in sub-Saharan Africa, but the lack of regulatory standards and guidance constitutes a major barrier. Hence, for these apps to be safely and effectively integrated into health care, more attention should be given to regulation. Learning from countries with effective regulations can help sub-Saharan Africa build a more robust and responsive regulatory system, ensuring the safe and beneficial use of health apps across the region. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025714.

Strengthening Health Systems Using Innovative Digital Health Technologies in Africa.

While effective health systems are needed to advance Universal Health Coverage and actualize the health Sustainable Development Goals, information system verticalization remains a challenge among African health systems. Most investments are vertical, partner-driven and program-specific with limited system-wide impacts. Poor linkages exist amongst different solutions as they are not designed to capture robust data across multiple programmatic areas. To address these challenges, the World Health Organization Africa Regional Office has proposed the adoption of a Digital Health Platform (DHP) to streamline different solutions to a cohesive whole. The DHP presents a pragmatic approach of bringing multiple platforms together using recognized standards to create a national infostructure, which bridges information solutions toward healthy and sustainable outcomes. It has capacities to curate accurate, high fidelity and timely data feedback loops needed to strengthen and continuously improve program delivery, monitoring, management, and informed decision-making at every level of the health system regardless of location. This paper contributes to the ongoing regional conversations on the need to harness innovative digital solutions to improve healthcare delivery in Africa.

Regulatory standards and guidance for the use of health applications for self-management in Africa: scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Despite health applications becoming ubiquitous and with enormous potential to facilitate self-management, regulatory challenges such as poor application quality, breach of data privacy and limited interoperability have impeded their full adoption. While many countries now have digital health-related policies/strategies, there is also a need for regulatory standards and guidance that address key regulatory challenges associated with the use of health applications. Currently, it is unclear the status of countries in Africa regarding regulatory standards and guidance that address the use of health applications.This protocol describes the process of conducting a scoping review which aims to investigate the extent to which regulatory standards and guidance address the use of health applications for self-management within the WHO African Region countries. METHODS: The review will follow the methodological framework for conducting a scoping study by Arksey and O'Malley (2005), and the updated methodological guidance for conducting a Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review. Given that regulatory standards and guidance are unlikely to be available in scientific databases, we will search Scopus, Google, OpenGrey, WHO Regional Office for Africa Library (AFROLIB), African Index Medicus (AIM), websites of WHO, ITU and Ministries of Health, repositories for digital health policies. We will also search the reference lists of included documents, and contact key stakeholders in the region. Results will be reported using descriptive qualitative content analysis based on the review objectives. The policy analysis framework by Walt and Gilson (1994) will be used to organise findings. A summary of the key findings will be presented using tables, charts and maps. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The collection of primary data is not anticipated in this study and hence ethical approval will not be required. The review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal while key findings will be shared with relevant organisations and/or presented at conferences.

Geospatial Clustering of Mobile Phone Use and Tuberculosis Health Outcomes Among African Health Systems.

BACKGROUND: While multiple studies have documented the impacts of mobile phone use on TB health outcomes for varied settings, it is not immediately clear what the spatial patterns of TB treatment completion rates among African countries are. This paper used Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) techniques to explore the clustering spatial patterns of TB treatment completion rates in 53 African countries and also their relationships with mobile phone use. Using an ESDA approach to identify countries with low TB treatment completion rates and reduced mobile phone use is the first step toward addressing issues related to poor TB outcomes. METHODS: TB notifications and treatment data from 2000 through 2015 that were obtained from the World Bank database were used to illustrate a descriptive epidemiology of TB treatment completion rates among African health systems. Spatial clustering patterns of TB treatment completion rates were assessed using differential local Moran's I techniques, and local spatial analytics was performed using local Moran's I tests. Relationships between TB treatment completion rates and mobile phone use were evaluated using ESDA approach. RESULT: Spatial autocorrelation patterns generated were consistent with Low-Low and High-Low cluster patterns, and they were significant at different p-values. Algeria and Senegal had significant clusters across the study periods, while Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, South Africa, and Cameroon had significant clusters in at least two time-periods. ESDA identified statistically significant associations between TB treatment completion rates and mobile phone use. Countries with higher rates of mobile phone use showed higher TB treatment completion rates overall, indicating enhanced program uptake (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Study findings provide systematic evidence to inform policy regarding investments in the use of mHealth to optimize TB health outcomes. African governments should identify turnaround strategies to strengthen mHealth technologies and improve outcomes.

Data revolution, health status transformation and the role of artificial intelligence for health and pandemic preparedness in the African context.

BACKGROUND: Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms, increasingly deployed in public health, utilize robust data systems as a critical component for health emergency preparedness. Yet, Africa faces numerous challenges in the availability, analyses, and use of data to inform health decision-making. Countries have limited access to their population data. Those with access, struggle to utilize these data for program improvements. Owing to the rapid growth of mobile phone ownership and use in the region, Africa is poised to leverage AI technologies to increase the adoption, access and use of data for health. To discuss and propose solutions for responsible development and adoption of innovations like AI in Africa, a virtual workshop was organized from the 21st to 24th June, 2021. This report highlights critical policy dimensions of strengthening digital health ecosystems by high-level policymakers, technical experts, academia, public and private sector partners. METHOD: The four days' workshop focused on nine sessions, with each session focusing on three themes. Discussions during the sessions concentrated on public and private sectors, the academia and multilateral organizations' deployment of AI. These discussions expanded participants' understanding of AI, the opportunities and challenges that exist during adoption, including the future of AI for health in the African region. Approximately 250 participants attended the workshop, including countries representatives from ministries of Health, Information and Technology, Developmental Organizations, Private Sector, Academia and Research Institutions among others. RESULTS: The workshop resolved that governments and relevant stakeholders should collaborate to ensure that AI and digital health receive critical attention. Government ownership and leadership were identified as critical for sustainable financing and effective scale-up of AI-enabled applications in Africa. Thus, government is to ensure that key recommendations from the workshop are implemented to improve health sector development in Africa. CONCLUSIONS: The AI workshop was a good forum to deliberate important issues regarding AI for health in the African context. It was concluded that there is a need to focus on vital priorities in deploying AI in Africa: Data protection, privacy and sharing protocols; training and creating platforms for researchers; funding and business models; developing frameworks for assessing and implementing AI; organizing forums and conferences on AI; and instituting regulations, governance and ethical guidelines for AI. There is a need to adopt a health systems approach in planning for AI to reduce inefficiencies, redundancies while increasing effectiveness in the use of AI. Thus, robust collaborations and partnerships among governments and various stakeholders were identified as key.

Realigning Health Systems Strategies and Approaches; What Should African Countries Do to Strengthen Health Systems for the Sustainable Development Goals?

The African region is experiencing peculiar demographic, economic, social and environmental challenges that place pressures on the health systems. While the need to explore ways to address identified health systems challenges is far from easy, there are substantial evidence that having robust frameworks and metrics to direct efforts and priorities of countries could be rewarding. In view of persisting regional health systems' challenges the World Health Organization African regional office proposed the adoption of a comprehensive health system strengthening action framework that provides an opportunity to translate global health policy into operational strategies for Africa's health sector policies, strategies and operations. The adoption of the action framework could support the realization of regional health objectives and priorities, and guide movement toward sustainable developments in countries.

Strengthening capacities among digital health leaders for the development and implementation of national digital health programs in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Discussions on the use of digital health to advance health have continued to gain traction over the past decades. This is important considering the rising penetration of mobile phones and other digital technologies and the opportunity to leverage those digital and electronic health methods and innovations to accelerate Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In Nigeria, however, the full benefits of digital technologies to strengthen the health systems are yet to be fully harnessed due to critical challenges in the sector. These challenges include but not limited to weak health systems governance, weak infrastructural investments, inadequate resources, weak human resource capacity, high cost of scaling-up and coordination issues among others. Lack of systems thinking, and design have significant impact on coordination of efforts and has resulted in the fragmentation and non-interoperability among various applications. To discuss these challenges and propose the way forward for rapid sustainable, scalable and cost-effective deployment of digital health in Nigeria, a digital health capacity development workshop was held in Abuja and across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria from 20th - 30th November 2019. This paper documents key conclusions and achievements at the workshop. METHODS: The workshop was organized around eleven modules and seven thematic areas which explored the Nigerian digital health governance and coordinating mechanisms in view of its status, leadership, financing and deployment for effective service delivery. It was attended by over 100 participants from varied background including Ministries of Health, Ministries of Communications and Digital Economy, International Organizations, Operators, Civil Society, Academia and Private Sector Experts. RESULTS: The workshop resolved that while digital health technologies offer profound opportunities to strengthen Nigerian health systems for UHC and the health SDGs, there should be a move from donor-driven pilot projects to robust, sustainable, cost-effective and nationally owned projects. This will involve a people-centered approach that should be demand-driven and not supply-driven to avoid wasting time on ineffective interventions, duplication of efforts and wastage of scarce health resources. Government ownership and leadership was identified as critical for sustainable financing and effective scale up of Digital Health projects in Nigeria. CONCLUSIONS: The DH capacity development workshop was a good forum to deliberate important issues regarding sustainable and cost-effective DH solutions that could be scaled to strengthen health service delivery in Nigeria. Insightful ideas for scaling DH in Nigeria and other related settings emanated from the workshop, necessitating the need for a focused government commitment and leadership in institutionalizing digital health in Nigeria.