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Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response

Digital tools are increasingly being applied to support the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in India and elsewhere globally. This article draws from global frameworks to explore the use of digital tools in the state of Kerala across the domains of communication, surveillance, clinical mana...

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Autores principales: Ummer, Osama, Scott, Kerry, Mohan, Diwakar, Chakraborty, Arpita, LeFevre, Amnesty Elizabeth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8300548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34312152
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005355
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author Ummer, Osama
Scott, Kerry
Mohan, Diwakar
Chakraborty, Arpita
LeFevre, Amnesty Elizabeth
author_facet Ummer, Osama
Scott, Kerry
Mohan, Diwakar
Chakraborty, Arpita
LeFevre, Amnesty Elizabeth
author_sort Ummer, Osama
collection PubMed
description Digital tools are increasingly being applied to support the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in India and elsewhere globally. This article draws from global frameworks to explore the use of digital tools in the state of Kerala across the domains of communication, surveillance, clinical management, non-clinical support, and core health system readiness and response. Kerala is considered India’s first digital state, with the highest percentage of households with computers (24%) and the internet (51%) in India, 95% mobile phone penetration, 62% smartphone penetration and 75% digital literacy. Kerala has long been a model for the early adoption of digital technology for education and health. As part of the pandemic response, technology has been used across private and public sectors, including law enforcement, health, information technology and education. Efforts have sought to ensure timely access to health information, facilitate access to entitlements, monitor those under quarantine and track contacts, and provide healthcare services though telemedicine. Kerala’s COVID-19 pandemic response showcases the diverse potential of digital technology, the importance of building on a strong health system foundation, the value of collaboration, and the ongoing challenges of data privacy and equity in digital access.
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spelling pubmed-83005482021-07-23 Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response Ummer, Osama Scott, Kerry Mohan, Diwakar Chakraborty, Arpita LeFevre, Amnesty Elizabeth BMJ Glob Health Analysis Digital tools are increasingly being applied to support the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in India and elsewhere globally. This article draws from global frameworks to explore the use of digital tools in the state of Kerala across the domains of communication, surveillance, clinical management, non-clinical support, and core health system readiness and response. Kerala is considered India’s first digital state, with the highest percentage of households with computers (24%) and the internet (51%) in India, 95% mobile phone penetration, 62% smartphone penetration and 75% digital literacy. Kerala has long been a model for the early adoption of digital technology for education and health. As part of the pandemic response, technology has been used across private and public sectors, including law enforcement, health, information technology and education. Efforts have sought to ensure timely access to health information, facilitate access to entitlements, monitor those under quarantine and track contacts, and provide healthcare services though telemedicine. Kerala’s COVID-19 pandemic response showcases the diverse potential of digital technology, the importance of building on a strong health system foundation, the value of collaboration, and the ongoing challenges of data privacy and equity in digital access. BMJ Publishing Group 2021-07-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8300548/ /pubmed/34312152 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005355 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Analysis
Ummer, Osama
Scott, Kerry
Mohan, Diwakar
Chakraborty, Arpita
LeFevre, Amnesty Elizabeth
Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title_full Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title_fullStr Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title_full_unstemmed Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title_short Connecting the dots: Kerala’s use of digital technology during the COVID-19 response
title_sort connecting the dots: kerala’s use of digital technology during the covid-19 response
topic Analysis
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8300548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34312152
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005355
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