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Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review
AIMS: To identify virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed in South Africa during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the challenges associated with their use. METHODS: To determine the status of digital health utilization during COVID-19 in South Africa, the preferre...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
People's Medical Publishing House Co. Ltd. Publishing service by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8897959/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35282399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2022.03.001 |
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author | Mbunge, Elliot Batani, John Gaobotse, Goabaone Muchemwa, Benhildah |
author_facet | Mbunge, Elliot Batani, John Gaobotse, Goabaone Muchemwa, Benhildah |
author_sort | Mbunge, Elliot |
collection | PubMed |
description | AIMS: To identify virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed in South Africa during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the challenges associated with their use. METHODS: To determine the status of digital health utilization during COVID-19 in South Africa, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses model was used to perform a systematic and in-depth critical analysis of previously published studies in well-known and trusted online electronic databases using specific search keywords words that are relevant to this study. We selected published peer-reviewed articles available from the onset of COVID-19 to July 2021. RESULTS: Total of 24 articles were included into this study. This study revealed that South Africa adopted digital technologies such as SMS-based solutions, mobile health applications, telemedicine and telehealth, WhatsApp-based systems, artificial intelligence and chatbots and robotics to provide healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic. These innovative technologies have been used for various purposes including screening infectious and non-infectious diseases, disease surveillance and monitoring, medication and treatment compliance, creating awareness and communication. The study also revealed that teleconsultation and e-prescription, telelaboratory and telepharmacy, teleeducation and teletraining, teledermatology, teleradiology, telecardiology, teleophthalmology, teleneurology, telerehabilitation, teleoncology and telepsychiatry are among virtual healthcare services delivered through digital health technologies during COVID-19 in South Africa. However, these smart digital health technologies face several impediments such as infrastructural and technological barriers, organization and financial barriers, policy and regulatory barriers as well as cultural barriers. CONCLUSION: Although COVID-19 has invigorated the use of digital health technologies, there are still some shortcomings. The outbreak of pandemics like COVID-19 in the future is not inevitable. Therefore, we recommend increasing community networks in rural areas to bridge the digital divide and the modification of mHealth policy to advocate for the effective use of innovative technologies in healthcare and the development of sustainable strategies for resources mobilization through private-public partnerships as well as joining available international initiatives advocating for smart digital health. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8897959 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | People's Medical Publishing House Co. Ltd. Publishing service by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88979592022-03-07 Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review Mbunge, Elliot Batani, John Gaobotse, Goabaone Muchemwa, Benhildah Glob Health J Review AIMS: To identify virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed in South Africa during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the challenges associated with their use. METHODS: To determine the status of digital health utilization during COVID-19 in South Africa, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses model was used to perform a systematic and in-depth critical analysis of previously published studies in well-known and trusted online electronic databases using specific search keywords words that are relevant to this study. We selected published peer-reviewed articles available from the onset of COVID-19 to July 2021. RESULTS: Total of 24 articles were included into this study. This study revealed that South Africa adopted digital technologies such as SMS-based solutions, mobile health applications, telemedicine and telehealth, WhatsApp-based systems, artificial intelligence and chatbots and robotics to provide healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic. These innovative technologies have been used for various purposes including screening infectious and non-infectious diseases, disease surveillance and monitoring, medication and treatment compliance, creating awareness and communication. The study also revealed that teleconsultation and e-prescription, telelaboratory and telepharmacy, teleeducation and teletraining, teledermatology, teleradiology, telecardiology, teleophthalmology, teleneurology, telerehabilitation, teleoncology and telepsychiatry are among virtual healthcare services delivered through digital health technologies during COVID-19 in South Africa. However, these smart digital health technologies face several impediments such as infrastructural and technological barriers, organization and financial barriers, policy and regulatory barriers as well as cultural barriers. CONCLUSION: Although COVID-19 has invigorated the use of digital health technologies, there are still some shortcomings. The outbreak of pandemics like COVID-19 in the future is not inevitable. Therefore, we recommend increasing community networks in rural areas to bridge the digital divide and the modification of mHealth policy to advocate for the effective use of innovative technologies in healthcare and the development of sustainable strategies for resources mobilization through private-public partnerships as well as joining available international initiatives advocating for smart digital health. People's Medical Publishing House Co. Ltd. Publishing service by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. 2022-06 2022-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8897959/ /pubmed/35282399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2022.03.001 Text en Copyright © 2022 People's Medical Publishing House Co. Ltd. Publishing service by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
spellingShingle | Review Mbunge, Elliot Batani, John Gaobotse, Goabaone Muchemwa, Benhildah Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title | Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title_full | Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title_fullStr | Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title_full_unstemmed | Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title_short | Virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa: a systematic review |
title_sort | virtual healthcare services and digital health technologies deployed during coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic in south africa: a systematic review |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8897959/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35282399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2022.03.001 |
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