Challenges to E-healthcare adoption in developing countries: A case study of Tanzania

The use of ICT in healthcare, which resulted into e-healthcare, has many benefits to both individuals and governments. These benefits include reduction in medical errors, improvements in physician efficiency and an increase in the quality of care delivered. Unfortunately, there are many challenges associated with electronic healthcare adoption. In this paper we investigate the challenges associated with electronic healthcare adoption in Tanzania, and propose solutions to them. The proposed solutions will help the Tanzanian government in its design and implementation of electronic healthcare projects.

[1]  A. Allen,et al.  Telemedicine technology and clinical applications. , 1995, JAMA.

[2]  G Eysenbach,et al.  The role of e-health and consumer health informatics for evidence-based patient choice in the 21st century. , 2001, Clinics in dermatology.

[3]  P. Whitten,et al.  E-Health, telehealth, and telemedicine : a guide to start-up and success , 2001 .

[4]  M. Lynn.  Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences , 1996 .

[5]  W. El-Sadr,et al.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief--is the emergency over? , 2008, The New England journal of medicine.

[6]  Mandalay Grems,et al.  Standards , 1987, CACM.

[7]  E. B. Steen,et al.  The Computer-Based Patient Record: An Essential Technology for Health Care , 1992, Annals of Internal Medicine.

[8]  Sanjay P Sood.  Implementing telemedicine technology: lessons from India. , 2004, World hospitals and health services : the official journal of the International Hospital Federation.

[9]  Thomas C. Rindfleisch,et al.  Privacy, information technology, and health care , 1997, CACM.

[10]  Suliman Al-Hawamdeh,et al.  The Impact of the Internet on Healthcare in Singapore , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[11]  Nilmini Wickramasinghe,et al.  A Framework For Assessing E-Health Preparedness , 2005, AMCIS.

[12]  Pierre Pluye,et al.  Shortcomings of health information on the Internet. , 2003, Health promotion international.

[13]  I. Nakajima,et al.  Developing countries and e-health services , 2004, Proceedings. 6th International Workshop on Enterprise Networking and Computing in Healthcare Industry - Healthcom 2004 (IEEE Cat. No.04EX842).

[14]  M. M. Khamis,et al.  Designing and Implementing Hospital Management Information Systems in Developing Countries: Case Studies from Tanzania – Zanzibar , 2007 .

[15]  Ryen W. White,et al.  Cyberchondria: Studies of the escalation of medical concerns in Web search , 2009, TOIS.

[16]  Pradeep Kumar Ray,et al.  Electronic Medical Records: A Review Comparing the Challenges in Developed and Developing Countries , 2008, Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2008).

[17]  M. E. Herselman,et al.  E-health in Rural Areas: Case of Developing Countries , 2008 .

[18]  Nilmini Wickramasinghe,et al.  Electronic healthcare: issues and challenges , 2006, Int. J. Electron. Heal..

[19]  E. Kelly,et al.  Health information privacy and e-healthcare , 2002 .

[20]  Peter L. Reichertz,et al.  Hospital information systems - Past, present, future , 2006, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[21]  J. Lungo,et al.  Development of Health Information System in Zanzibar: Practical Implications , 2008 .

[22]  Wilhelm Hasselbring,et al.  The SI challenge in health care , 2000, CACM.