A synthesis of research on ICT adoption and use by medical professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Health care practitioners rely on access to relevant and up-to-date medical information in order to effectively treat their patients. One efficient, low-cost avenue for such information is online collections, but certain regions lack the information and communication technologies (ICT) necessary for widespread and reliable access to online resources. The characteristics of existing ICT infrastructure in many developing countries are not well understood. This research synthesis focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an area with low levels of ICT infrastructure. It presents a synthesis of statistical analyses and a review across disciplines of information published on the state of ICT and health information access in SSA. An overview of the existing knowledge allowed us to identify the salient features of this particular ICT environment, and informed the development of a survey for SSA healthcare professionals. The synthesis and preliminary results from our survey suggest that Internet connectivity remains highly unreliable in Sub-Saharan Africa and that mobile devices provide the most reliable technology for health care providers to carry out their work.